When you think of a former All-Pro linebacker, the last thing you thing of is weakness. Chris Spielman, however, who was a star in college at Ohio State and an All-Pro in the NFL, wants to be known as the weakest man in any room he enters. That’s because the dedicated Christian does not want to let his own life be magnified. Instead, Spielman, who believes that Jesus Christ is God’s Son Who died and rose again for the sins of the world, wants to let the life of his Savior be seen by others.
Spielman has to have had strength from somewhere (He would say from God). That is not only because the life of an NFL linebacker is not easy, or his career ending neck injury, but having to deal with the cancer of his wife, Stefanie. Spielman even took a year off from football because of the cancer. Stefanie was first diagnosed with the disease in 1998. Spielman took a year off from football and shaved his head, because his wife had lost all her hair because of cancer treatment.
It wasn’t easy for Spielman, but he says God sustained him. He dealt with both his wife’s cancer and a career ending injury to his neck after he returned to football following his year off. He remembers thinking that his biggest fear was that if Stefanie died; he couldn’t properly groom the hair of his daughters, Madison and Noah.
God gave him peace through the circumstances, but he was angry with God at first. He said that he remembers that, “I raised my fist to God, and I raised my fists, and it was a wrestling match.” Through it all, however, he found that God met all his needs and gave him a peace in the midst of the circumstances. Because he drew closer to God, he believes that as bad as cancer was, it actually blessed the lives of his family.
Although Chris Spielman wants to be known for his own personal weakness, he has been compared to great linebackers, such as Dick Butkis and Ray Nitschke. In college, he was a two time All-American and won the Lombardi Award as the best linebacker in college. He graduated from Ohio State in 1988 and played eight seasons with the Detroit Lions, leading the team in tackles every season, and played in the Pro Bowl four times. He played with the Buffalo Bills in 1996 and 1997 and in 1996 set a team and personal record with 206 tackles. He did not play during the 1998 season, because of Stefanie’s cancer. He returned to play for the Cleveland Browns in 1999, before suffering a neck injury. He retired during the season.
Since that time Spielman has been a broadcaster for Fox Sports Net, ESPN (which he joined in 2001), the Columbus, Ohio, radio station 1460 The Fan, an ESPN affiliate; and on WXYT, a sports talk radio station in Detroit, Michigan.
Chris and Stefanie Spielman have not let the cancer get them down. She has overcome the disease twice, and the couple is active in raising funds for breast cancer research.
Despite how he wants to be known, Chris Spielman has never been known for weakness. Even as a little boy, he said he wanted to be a football player. His dad remembers him using a G.I. Joe toy he had bought him as a linebacker to smash anything and everything in sight. His dad remembers that Chris started playing in a flag football league at six or seven, before getting kicked out for tackling the player that had the ball. He started playing in a Pop Warner league at nine, and his team went 8-0 and was not scored on. Spielman, naturally, was the linebacker. He knew football better than many high school players, because he started taking notes of games at age six or seven.
Spielman watched how his dad, who coached, watched the players that played the hardest. He tried to be like them. His dad told him to watch the linebackers, so it was natural for him to want to be a linebacker.
Despite how some might consider Chris Spielman a strong man, he nevertheless, considers weakness and dependence on God, to be what has helped him as his wife overcame cancer twice.
“She’s doing fine today,” Spielman explained. He said the cancer “expedited” the faith of both he and Stefanie. “You either run to God or away from God thru trials and tribulations.”
The Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research has raised almost $3 million, although the original goal was only $100,000.
Chris Spielman teaches a high school Sunday School class at Trinity United Methodist Church in Columbus. He also teaches a 7 a.m. Bible study once a month for fifth and sixth graders at Barrington Elementary School.
While the former All-Pro linebacker may personally consider himself weak, Chris Spielman displays a little strength when he says that if there is ever a football league for those 40 and over with a broken neck, he is “ready to go.”
