John Smoltz featured in the October 1999 edition of Sports Spectrum.
This story appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Sports Spectrum Magazine. To read the rest of it, and for more in-depth feature stories like it, subscribe to our quarterly magazine!
Summer 2023 issue
***
Hodgins was just being his “stupid, energetic self.” It was two days before the New York Giants’ wild-card matchup against the Minnesota Vikings — which would be his first career NFL playoff game — and during the team’s light walkthrough he jumped up to celebrate a touchdown catch. But he landed wrong and turned his ankle. When it became black and blue and swelled up, he knew it was significant.
“I couldn’t even do a walkthrough, and then I had to get on a flight to Minnesota and it got more swollen from the flight,” Hodgins recently told Sports Spectrum. “… I felt like, ‘Dang, I’m going to let my team down.'”
Trainers went to work on his ankle day and night until the game, while Hodgins prayed fervently for healing. He told God, “If I play this game, it’s only going to be because of You, and if I make it through this game, it’s only because of You.”
It’s hard to blame Hodgins for being a little excited to make his postseason debut. A sixth-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2020, the former Oregon State standout had mostly been a practice-squad player during his short time in the NFL. When the Bills waived him this past November, the Giants claimed him the next day.
Being cut was tough, but there was at least a silver lining with his new spot. Giants head coach Brian Daboll had coached Hodgins in Buffalo as the offensive coordinator, so it wasn’t a completely unfamiliar situation for him. Daboll saw something in Hodgins that seemed to make sense for their offense, and the returns were almost immediate.
After joining the Giants, Hodgins averaged more than four catches and nearly 44 yards per game over eight games, and he hauled in four touchdown catches. He quickly became a trusted target for quarterback Daniel Jones, and in the team’s penultimate regular-season game, he caught a career-high eight passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.
With momentum heading into the playoffs, and after sitting and watching for all that time in Buffalo, Hodgins felt his chance was finally coming. But then, the ankle mishap.
“Having played Minnesota already earlier in the year (a Week 16 Giants loss in Minnesota), he knew this could be his breakout game,” said Isaiah’s father, James Hodgins, a former NFL player himself. “I think that was part of the spiritual thing about that game, knowing he had to go into it and fully trust God.”
Isaiah played in the game, just his sixth career start. And he introduced himself to the huge playoff-watching audience with a career performance: 105 receiving yards on eight catches, including a touchdown reception, all of which helped the sixth-seeded Giants score a 31-24 road victory over the third-seeded Vikings.
New York Giants WR Isaiah Hodgins catches a touchdown pass in the playoffs, Jan. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
With each completed catch, and especially after the touchdown, Isaiah’s mind became less focused on the pain.
“I just started to really sit there on the bench and be like, ‘God is really working right now,'” he said. “‘He’s really bringing me through this. My foot is in serious pain and I would not be able to do this without God.'”
Without question, the stellar showing instantly went down as the best game of Hodgins’ career — and he probably shouldn’t have even been playing. He didn’t know until after the win that the injury was worse than he’d imagined. What he thought may have been a sprained ankle actually turned out to be a fracture.
All things considered, it was an objectively amazing performance. But if there’s one thing Isaiah Hodgins wants people to know about him, it’s that he’s not interested in basking in the praise. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate it, but the 24-year-old would rather his success reflect Whom it comes from.
“A reporter asked me after the game, ‘A couple of months ago you were on the practice squad and now you’re sitting here catching a hundred yards in a playoff game,’ and I’m just like, ‘That’s God,'” Hodgins said. “That’s just how quick He could work, His plan coming to fruition, and it’s nothing else. Obviously I had to work hard and stay with it, but that’s just God and how He works and His plans for my life. So it has been awesome to see it all unfold.”
“I just started to really sit there on the bench and be like, ‘God is really working right now. He’s really bringing me through this. My foot is in serious pain and I would not be able to do this without God.'” — Isaiah Hodgins
***
James Hodgins played seven years in the NFL and was a member of the Super Bowl XXXIV-winning St. Louis Rams in 1999. He knows what it takes to play and stay in the NFL. His son’s success last season wasn’t a surprise, he told Sports Spectrum. He knew Isaiah had the ability, and once he got the opportunity, it was just a matter of time.
“We were expecting God to eventually show up and there be a breakout season, we just didn’t know when,” said James, who says he’s witnessed Isaiah walking faithfully with the Lord and putting his trust in Him throughout his football journey.
The foundation of Isaiah’s faith goes all the way back to his upbringing in San Francisco’s Bay Area. James and his wife, Stephanie, had Isaiah and his siblings in church “as much as possible,” James said, regularly attending youth groups and Fellowship of Christian Athletes camps.
They eventually enrolled Isaiah at Berean Christian High School in Walnut Creek, California, which James credits for helping Isaiah deepen his relationship with God thanks to a better theological understanding of the Bible and the Christian faith. They did all they could to raise Isaiah and his siblings as Christ-followers.
“The reality is, for all of us at some point, your faith has to be your own, not your parents’,” James said. “That was always our biggest thing to both of our sons and our daughters, that you have to take this faith journey with God yourself.”
For Isaiah, that really started once he arrived at Oregon State. But it didn’t come without some hurdles. He earned a starting spot his freshman year, so he naturally became a popular guy on campus. Though he considered himself a Christian, he wasn’t reflecting it with his choices, as his weekends often included drinking alcohol and attending parties.
Then he got hurt during spring practices later that freshman year. That gave him time to reflect on his faith and relationship with God.
“That was the time I started really taking my walk seriously,” he said. “Not just on Sundays, but throughout the week. I made it a goal that I’m going to be unashamed about this. I invited players to church. I was sitting there being outspoken about my faith and doing Bible studies throughout the week and stuff that was helping me grow.”
That continued once he got to Buffalo. His presence may not have been felt on the field much, but that didn’t stop him from taking on a leadership role in the locker room. Just as he did in college, Isaiah, along with his wife, Maya, invited players to church and led Bible studies. In everything he did, he just wanted to reflect Jesus.
“When I got cut at the time I was like, ‘Okay, I’m alright because I know what my future holds.’”
Don’t miss today’s episode on the pod with @Giants wide receiver @IsaiahHodgins for conversation on his breakout year and staying connected with Jesus.https://t.co/i2r7jOk32f pic.twitter.com/OPAEgCakNM
— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) April 21, 2023
***
It’s been said that a tested faith is a trusted faith. As positive as Isaiah stayed while spending most of his time on the practice squad, he’s still a competitive athlete who wants to earn a chance to play. Heading into the 2022 season, he felt like he was doing that.
He put together what he thought was one of his best preseasons since he’d been in the NFL. He was making plays and putting up good numbers that showed he could produce at that level. He thought he had done enough to secure a spot on the active roster, but even if the Bills were to cut him, he felt he would warrant interest from another team.
He ended up getting cut right after the preseason and then went unclaimed. So he returned to the Bills practice squad. That felt like a “dagger,” he said.
“I had all these goals written in my notes like, ‘I’m going to get this many yards, this many touchdowns,'” he said. “We already were expecting baby No. 2, so I was like, ‘I’m going to be on the active roster. I’m going to buy a house with this money,’ and all this stuff.
“I had all these plans and God put it on a pause and I was like, ‘Dang, this is hard.’ I had all these big plans for myself that I thought were so great and God was telling me to rest and wait and continue to grow in my character, and not really worry about my circumstances other than building my character.”
Hodgins credits the Bills organization, especially team chaplain Len Vanden Bos, for the continued growth in his faith. He stayed patient and was eventually called up to the active roster in Week 5. But he still didn’t play all that much, and at the trade deadline the Bills waived him yet again.
“That’s when it was like a dagger again,” he said. “I was living on this high and then I got back low, but then through it all I was trying not to let my heart get to a resentment for God or anything, and trust what God has for me: ‘If it’s just learning how to manage money better, if You want me to grow in Buffalo more, it is what it is.'”
This time, the Giants made sure he didn’t go unclaimed.
“I had all these plans and God put it on a pause and I was like, ‘Dang, this is hard.’ I had all these big plans for myself that I thought were so great and God was telling me to rest and wait and continue to grow in my character.” — Isaiah Hodgins
***
Isaiah Hodgins (Photo by Leah Montgomery/Sports Spectrum)
A week or two prior, Hodgins attended his Buffalo church with several of his teammates. Not knowing that Isaiah or any of his teammates were professional athletes, the pastor happened to pick Isaiah out of the bunch and began to prophesy over him.
“‘Listen, you got brought here to be sent, and Buffalo isn’t your finishing place,'” Isaiah said, recounting the pastor’s words over him. “‘God is working on your character and is going to send you somewhere else.’ [The pastor] didn’t know who I was at all, and he [continued prophesying], ‘I see your face on TV, on the media, on all this stuff, but don’t let it get to your head. Use God’s platform and reach other people and help people out.'”
The pastor urged Isaiah and Maya to continue praying together because they were about to go somewhere that they’d be used by God…
This story appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Sports Spectrum Magazine. To read the rest of it, and for more in-depth feature stories like it, subscribe to our quarterly magazine!
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>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<
In Sports Spectrum Magazine’s Spring 2023 issue, we highlight the most dominant team in college sports, whose players are also some of the boldest followers of Christ.
The cover story features the University of Oklahoma softball team — winner of the last two national championships and six overall. We tell the stories of four players (Jordy Bahl, Alyssa Brito, Rylie Boone, Grace Lyons; and could have talked to more) and head coach Patty Gasso, which all combine to tell the story of how this program became the best in the country while also creating disciples of Christ.
We also feature two No. 1 MLB draft picks — Jackson Holliday (2022) and Mark Appel (2013) — who have vastly different baseball journeys, but God is at the center of both of them.
There’s also a Q&A with Gold Glover Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals, who’s had the unique fortune of playing with so many legends in the game, and a story that looks back on one of the most iconic shots in NCAA Tournament history — Bryce Drew, 25 years ago — and how God was working in that moment and in that legendary coaching family.
Don’t yet have your copy of this issue? You can learn more about Sports Spectrum Magazine (established in 1985) here. Order your subscription today before this issue sells out!
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This story appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Sports Spectrum Magazine. To read the rest of it, and for more in-depth feature stories like it, subscribe to our quarterly magazine!
Spring 2023 Issue
***
Immediately after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift No. 13-seed Valparaiso over No. 4-seed Ole Miss in the 1998 NCAA Tournament, Bryce Drew hit the deck. His dad and head coach, Homer, was asked after the game why Bryce dove onto the floor. Homer thought it might have been an attempt to protect himself as his teammates came running at him. Only when they were walking out of the locker room at Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City that afternoon of March 13 did Homer learn the real reason.
Bryce told Homer he dove on the floor because it was the closest place he could get to where he could give thanks to the Lord.
“Bryce realized it wasn’t him, but it was God’s power through him that allowed that shot to go in,” Homer said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in November. “And that was really touching.”
Twenty-five years later, that shot remains one of the most iconic in college basketball history.
Trailing 69-67 with 20 seconds remaining, Valparaiso got a defensive stop and secured the rebound. The ball found its way to Bryce — the team’s leading scorer (19.8 points per game) and a two-time Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year — at midcourt. He pump faked, dumped the ball off to center Zoran Viskovic and reset himself on the 3-point line. Viskovic immediately gave the ball back to Bryce, who was wide open and took a shot with seven seconds left.
“All of us were very excited because I’ve seen Bryce make that shot in our backyard and in our arena at Valparaiso for years, so [I] was thrilled when he had that opportunity,” Homer recalled. “One of his dreams was always to hit a game-winning shot.”
But this attempt hit the front of the rim. The rebound was collected by Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Ansu Sesay, whom Valparaiso fouled with 4.1 seconds remaining.
He missed the first free throw. Homer took his final timeout.
Sesay’s second free throw came off the back of the rim and went out of bounds. Valparaiso ball along the baseline with 2.5 seconds on the clock.
Homer then called for a play named “Pacer” in honor of the NBA team that plays 150 miles south of Valparaiso’s campus. So Jamie Sykes threw a deep pass to Bill Jenkins, who caught the ball past half-court and quickly passed it to Bryce running by him on the right wing.
Bryce’s second attempt at a game-winner was true.
“When God blesses you and He gives you something that you don’t deserve — and He gave me an awesome platform with that ball going in the rim; it very easily could’ve been short and not gone in — it’s something that I really enjoy talking about, just because there was a lot of commitment in it, a lot of hard work, a lot of faith, a lot of belief,” Bryce said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast.
And the whole Drew family was there to witness it. Dad, of course, was on the bench, as was the oldest child in the family, Scott, serving as an assistant coach. In the stands was mother Janet, sister Dana, and her husband, Casey Shaw.
Bryce finished the game with 22 points, and followed it up with another 22 in the second round, an 83-77 win over No. 12-seed Florida State. That sent Valparaiso to its first and only Sweet 16 appearance (a 74-68 loss to No. 8-seed Rhode Island).
“It’s such a fond memory for myself because I grew up watching the NCAA Tournament,” Bryce said. “I always wanted to be part of March Madness. To be able to be part of the history and win a game on a last-second shot in the first round, you know, it’s something that I kind of reflect on all those Friday nights and Saturday nights in the gym, that it was worth it.”
“Bryce realized it wasn’t him, but it was God’s power through him that allowed that shot to go in. And that was really touching.” — Homer Drew
***
Homer was the head coach at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana, for a large portion of his kids’ childhoods, which meant Scott, Dana and Bryce took full advantage of the school’s numerous athletic facilities.
“They thought their backyard was the basketball gymnasium at Bethel College,” Homer said. “I can remember we would be playing touch football, we would play soccer, we would roller skate on the gym floor.”
It was basketball that stuck, though, as all three Drew children grew up to pursue careers in the sport. But as Dad was laying a basketball foundation for his children, he was also helping set a foundation for faith. Homer grew up going to church and knew about Jesus, but it wasn’t until he had kids that he developed a personal relationship with God.
Bryce saw that faith lived out in his parents, but faith was something he truly had to make his own during his sophomore year of high school, when he needed surgery to address a heart condition. It was a newer procedure, and he remembers having to sign papers preventing the doctors from being sued if he died.
That’s when Janet gave him a verse to lean on — Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
“It kind of made me grow up early and realize, ‘You know what? When I open my eyes, I have no control over what’s going to happen in my life,’” Bryce said. “From that point on, even if my parents were out of town and couldn’t go to church, I wanted to go and learn more about the Lord and grow in my faith.
“That was my first step, but there’ve been other steps along the way where I think God’s really shown me His presence and just how He’s in control no matter if it’s a good circumstance or a bad circumstance.”
A couple other surgeries followed the initial one, but Bryce eventually returned to the court and ended up being named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 1994. He went on to play for Homer at Valparaiso, then was taken 16th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft and played six seasons in the league.
He was the second Drew child to go pro. After a remarkable career at the University of Toledo — she left in 1995 as the school’s all-time leader in points and assists, which led to her being in the school’s Hall of Fame — Dana played professionally in Italy for three years.
Scott, meanwhile, decided to stop playing basketball as a high school sophomore, but became a student manager for the men’s basketball team while he attended Butler University. He was set to go on to law school after he graduated, but came home for Christmas his senior year and told Homer he wanted to get into coaching. Dad told him that was a great idea once he got his law degree, but Scott clarified that he meant becoming a coach right away.
Valparaiso, which Homer took over in 1988, happened to have a graduate assistant position open, so Homer hired Scott. When Homer retired after the 2001-02 season, Scott succeeded him as head coach. But when Scott was hired by Baylor a year later, Homer came out of retirement and returned to his old job.
“When God blesses you and He gives you something that you don’t deserve — and He gave me an awesome platform with that ball going in the rim; it very easily could’ve been short and not gone in — it’s something that I really enjoy talking about.” — Bryce Drew
***
Scott inherited a Baylor program marred by tragedy and scandal. The Bears won a total of 12 conference games in Scott’s first four seasons as the program dealt with severe sanctions — some self-imposed and some levied by the NCAA — stemming from violations under previous head coach Dave Bliss.
Slowly but surely, Scott was able to rebuild Baylor. The program won 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament in 2007-08. It had been two decades since either of those things happened.
Two years later, the Bears went 28-8 and won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1950. That was the first of two trips to the Elite Eight in three seasons. A run of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances began two years after the second Elite Eight. In 2017, the program ascended to the Associated Press’ No. 1 national ranking for the first time ever.
As he became more and more successful, Scott remained dedicated to his Christ-centered vision for the program. Coaching at the largest Baptist college in the country made it even easier for Scott to emphasize and talk about faith.
“I knew that we could have that success here at Baylor, and it’s just great to be able to do it and allow great, young Christian men to have impacts on so many future generations just by hearing their interviews and their testimonies,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast.
At the center of Scott’s program is a culture of J.O.Y., which stands for “Jesus, Others, Yourself.” He got the acronym from Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, who was introduced to it by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy.
“When I’m coaching, that’s when I feel closest to God at times,” Scott said. “Whenever you’re in His will and doing what He calls you to do, there’s just that joy and excitement. … I knew He wanted me in coaching and as my relationship grew, I knew He wanted me in coaching for the right reasons.”
Baylor missed March Madness in 2018, but returned and fell in the second round in 2019. The Bears jumped back to the nation’s No. 1 ranking in January 2020, and by Feb. 18, 2020, they were 24-1 and winners of 23 in a row. However, they dropped three of their final five games before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With four starters returning, Baylor opened the 2020-21 season with 18 straight victories. A road loss to Kansas was the Bears’ only blemish during the regular season, and they entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
A No. 15 seed in that tournament was Grand Canyon (in Phoenix) — coached by Bryce. He had joined Homer’s staff at Valparaiso and taken over as head coach when Homer retired for good after the 2010-11 season. The Crusaders won four regular-season conference titles and reached the NCAA Tournament twice in Bryce’s five seasons.
He was hired by Vanderbilt in 2016 and led the Commodores to the Big Dance in his first season. But Vanderbilt parted ways with Bryce in 2019 after a 9-23 season. He took a year off from coaching and then returned to be the head coach at Grand Canyon in 2020. And again in his first season, he led his team to the NCAA Tournament. Though GCU fell to No. 2-seed Iowa in the first round, it was the program’s first-ever March Madness appearance.
And because that tournament was held completely in Indianapolis in an effort to reduce travel and stop the spread of COVID, Homer and Janet had the opportunity to watch both their sons coach in the same NCAA Tournament — in the state where Homer spent more than three decades as a head coach (he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019)…
Homer Drew, Bryce Drew, Scott Drew (AP Photos)
This story appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Sports Spectrum Magazine. To read the rest of it, and for more in-depth feature stories like it, subscribe to our quarterly magazine!
RELATED CONTENT:
— SS PODCAST: Former Valpo coach Homer Drew on coaching for greater purpose
— SS PODCAST: Bryce Drew – Grand Canyon University Men’s Basketball Coach
— SS PODCAST: Coach Scott Drew on Baylor’s culture of J.O.Y., pointing others to Christ
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>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<
In Sports Spectrum Magazine’s Winter 2022 issue, we feature some of the most faithful followers of Christ in hockey and basketball who also rank among their game’s elite.
The cover story features Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson, who endured a whirlwind year that led to him hoisting the Stanley Cup. We were able to meet up with him in person over the summer, and he shared how God worked amidst the craziness in his life — from getting traded to a long playoff run to free agency to having another baby.
We also feature Al Horford, who helped the Boston Celtics reach the NBA Finals last year. The NBA vet shared about how he’s no longer reserved when it comes to publicly expressing his faith in Christ.
University of Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe — the NCAA’s consensus 2022 Player of the Year — is also unashamed about sharing his faith. He spoke with us about returning to college for another year because God told him He’s not done with Oscar yet at Kentucky.
We also highlight Laila Blair, a big reason the University of Houston women’s team is on the rise. She’s a hometown star who’s grown into the role of spiritual leader on the Cougars as well.
Don’t yet have your copy of this issue? You can learn more about Sports Spectrum Magazine (established in 1985) here. Order your subscription today before this issue sells out!
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