'Uncommon' sight for Super Bowl Sunday

Written by Eric Tiansay

Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:16 PM America/New_York


A Christian book could be part of the plethora of sights for Super Bowl Sunday. Former Indianapolis Colts coach and best-selling author Tony Dungy will be part of NBC’s Super Bowl XLIII pre-game coverage Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., so look for him to plug Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance (Tyndale House Publishers). Earlier this week, Dungy began his national media tour to launch Uncommon—released Jan. 27—with an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Dungy, 53, retired Jan. 12 after a 31-year NFL career, becoming the first black coach to win a Super Bowl after guiding Indianapolis to victory against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI to close the 2006 season.

Tyndale rolled out 250,000 copies of Uncommon—Dungy's follow-up to The New York Times best-seller Quiet Strength, published by Tyndale in 2007—which features his “legacy” message. With more than a million copies sold, Quiet Strength is one of the best-selling, sports-related titles in history.

I met Dungy during the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) last summer in Orlando, Fla., when he signed 250 copies of his children’s book You Can Do It! (Little Simon Inspirations). Dungy also spent some time with fellow Super Bowl hero David Tyree, author of More Than Just the Catch (Excel Books/Strang Book Group).

Dungy didn't speak during a session at ICRS in Orlando in 2008, but he was still a big hit with conventioneers.

“I've been struggling the last year,” one retailer told Dungy. “You're book (Quiet Strength) helped me to keep afloat my business.”

Another retailer said: “I'm a Tony Dungy fan. When I read Quiet Strength, I thought it was the greatest leadership book ever.”

Dungy told me that meeting the gatekeepers of the Christian retail channel at ICRS was “phenomenal.” “Usually, we're dealing with sports people,” he said. “To work in a Christian setting is really amazing.”