When the Spirit Opens Doors: Brock Huard

This conversation is jammed with inspiration and wisdom from athlete, broadcaster and Jesus follower, Brock Huard. In the next few minutes you'll hear about the power of community in the form of small groups of like-minded believers including some of the important ingredients for building powerful connections.

Listen to it here.

Watch it here

Brock shares how he has successfully integrated his faith with the fast paced world of professional sports and broadcasting. In his crazy busy world at Fox Sports (and more) he prioritizes time with his wife, family, small group and his work with Compassion International and his faith based podcast "Above and Beyond" (where faith and sports intersect).

You'll hear Brock's powerful message: Listen and watch for the leading of the Holy Spirit and seize the opportunity to walk through the doors that are opened for you.

Oh yea. and the power of the bubble bath.

BROCK HUARD AT A GLANCE

Former Seahawks Quarterback • FOX College Football Analyst • Seattle Sports Broadcaster • Christian Podcast Host

Topics

Football • Seahawks • Washington Huskies • FOX Sports • Broadcasting • Faith • Men's groups • Accountability • Christian athletes • Compassion International • Above & Beyond • Great Commission

His Faith Journey

Moral Christian upbringing → Youth pastor relationship in seventh grade → Commitment to Christ in eighth grade → High-school accountability group → Faith integrated with football and broadcasting → Above & Beyond faith-and-sports ministry → Using media, sports and relationships to share Jesus

This Episode Explores

• Brock Huard's football roots in Puyallup

• Growing up in a football family

• Coming to faith as a teenager

• The importance of Christian accountability

• Building a men's group that has lasted for a decade

• Four areas of weekly accountability

• Bringing faith and sports together

• The creation of Above & Beyond

• Brock's unusual airplane meeting with Compassion International

• Using broadcasting as a platform for faith

• Walking with families through grief and loss

• Balancing competition with Christian character

• Living out the Great Commission every day

Questions Answered

• Who is Brock Huard?

• How did Brock Huard become a Christian?

• How did football shape Brock Huard's life?

• Why is Christian accountability important to Brock Huard?

• How does his men's group work?

• What are the four areas they evaluate each week?

• How did Above & Beyond begin?

• How did Brock Huard connect with Compassion International?

• How does he combine faith and sports?

• How does Brock Huard respond to grief and unanswered prayer?

• How does he approach criticism as a broadcaster?

• What does the Great Commission look like in everyday life?

Core Story

Brock Huard's journey connects football, broadcasting, Christian brotherhood and ministry — using the platforms and relationships God has given him to encourage others and point people toward Jesus.

Podcast Transcript: Brock Huard on Football, Faith, Brotherhood & Following God's Call

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

From Puyallup to the Seahawks

Ric Hansen: Hey, Ric Hansen here with Amazing Greats. I love what I do, having an opportunity to talk to people about not only their careers and what they've done in life, but also how Jesus has impacted their lives.

Today I get to talk with a guy who's kind of a Northwest legend. I've known him since he was a youngster. I don't know him personally, but I've followed his career through the years. He played locally at every level, and he's just a wonderful guy.

We're going to talk about not only his sports career, but also his Christian ministry and a little bit about his broadcast career. On this podcast, Brock Huard.

Brock, it's so great to have you here today. Thank you for being part of the podcast, and good morning. How are you?

Brock Huard: I'm doing good, Ric. It's taken a while for you and I to connect. This has been months in the process. We had a mutual friend who reached out, I think, initially some months ago, and you've been patient. My schedule has been up in the air. The USFL got thrown on my lap, then summer travels and all that good stuff.

So I appreciate you fitting into what's been a pretty tight schedule for me the last few months.

Ric Hansen: Absolutely. And I want to hear more about what's going on in your schedule too, because I tried to figure out exactly what you're doing, and there's so much going on in your life right now it's hard for me to keep track.

Brock Huard: Well, it kind of happens that way with a 19-, 17-, and 12-year-old, a couple different jobs, and doors opening and opportunities coming that fit a little bit with what and how God's gifted me.

It's just hang-on time. My wife and I got a good little bike ride in this morning, so the blood's pumping, the brain should be fresh. Hopefully I can produce for you on this podcast, since you've been waiting on me.

Ric Hansen: That's great. So you're at the ripe old age of 46, and you're like a legend here in the Northwest in a lot of ways — a football legend for sure.

Just a quick overview: Friday nights we saw you in Puyallup at Puyallup Stadium. Saturdays we saw you at Husky Stadium doing Husky football. And then on Sundays, you were a Seahawk.

You had an amazing football career here in the great Northwest.

Brock Huard: Pretty remarkable. Not many guys get the opportunity to play high school, college, and pro within, what, 45 miles of one another.

I don't know exactly as the crow flies from Husky Stadium or the Seahawk facility to the Puyallup Fairgrounds where I grew up, just a couple blocks away. But not many, I think, in football history have had that kind of chance to be that close to the community and, at the same time, be somewhat in the fishbowl.

I never really got away like my daughters have. They've moved to a few different high schools and are playing college ball. My oldest is at the University of Montana, and watching her grow up through that has been fun.

But as I look back, I was super fortunate because it built deep roots — deep friendships. Dane Looker and I were teammates. I'm helping coach my 12-year-old son's football team when I can, and thinking, "Man, when I was 12, in seventh grade, that's when Dane and I started playing."

We played through junior high and high school and college and almost got to play professionally together.

It's kind of come full circle coaching my little ones and watching them grow up. I can look in the rearview mirror and go, "Wow, that was quite a life experience to have those kinds of roots all in one community."

A Football Family

Ric Hansen: Speaking of roots, you've got Coach Mike, your dad, who coached you and your brothers at Puyallup High School. Then you've got quarterback Damon, and Coach Luke Huard. It's a football family.

What was it like at the dinner table? Did you just sit around talking about plays?

Brock Huard: It was trying to throw as many calories into three growing boys as possible.

Grandma Peg — it was tater tot casserole, tuna fish casserole, milk by the gallon. It was, "Hang on and survive." How do we feed all three of us on a schoolteacher's salary?

My dad was a football coach and teacher. Mom stayed home until Luke was in school. We grew up very modestly there. It was truly hang-on time for them.

We were all busy — football, basketball, baseball, running around crazy — kind of like my family has.

Did we have a ton of dinners where we all sat around the table? No. It was, "Here's a peanut butter and jelly. Go to practice. Here's tater tot casserole. Here's dinner. Feed yourself."

I'd say our closest time together was Saturdays or Sundays after college football. We'd wake up and Mom would make a huge brunch — eggs, hash browns, pancakes, bacon, all of it.

We'd wake up after my dad's Friday night game and watch college football most of the day. We'd lay on the couches in the room, have the Nerf basketball hoop, and inevitably go outside and beat each other up doing something in Wiffle ball or football.

Those were probably the times of the most bonding — those weekends of just taking in the sport that really has defined a lot of our family's lives for many, many years.

Meeting Jesus in Seventh Grade

Ric Hansen: As you know, I love talking about sports, but this is Amazing Greats. It's a Christian podcast.

Let's start back in those days. Where along the way did you become acquainted with Jesus? Where along the way did you say yes to Jesus? How did all that happen?

Brock Huard: There's no question that the Lord just had a calling on my life, knocking and knocking and knocking at a pretty young age.

On those Saturdays before the family would wake up, there were oftentimes when I was watching Pat Robertson on The 700 Club. Why? I don't know, other than just the supernatural.

God chose me, right? In this whole question of "Is it chosen? Is it free will?" I'm not about to get into that because that's above your grade and my pay grade. That's our Maker's understanding.

But there was no question that He was knocking on my life in a pretty unique way.

We were not regular church attenders. My parents were good people — they are good people, and they're saved now — but it was more of a moral upbringing: treat people right.

Mom would always send us to Vacation Bible School during the summer, so there was always that knocking and leading.

Then the Lord introduced me to my youth pastor, Scott Sears, who eventually married me. We've stayed in touch for decades and decades.

As a seventh grader at Aylen Junior High, he said, "Hey, I want to take you out and grab a Coke or something after school."

I'd heard about him and had mutual friends who said he was a great guy and a youth pastor in town.

Well, I hadn't told my grandma and grandpa. They were expecting me to walk from the junior high to their house, which was a few blocks away.

I was late, obviously. Scott and I went and grabbed a sandwich and a Coke at the little restaurant there in town.

I pull up, and Grandma and Grandpa are at the door and give Scott the business.

Grandma and Grandpa: Who are you? What are you doing with a young boy?

Brock Huard: They had immigrated from the Netherlands after the war, so they were old-school. They just didn't understand that relationship, community, fellowship — especially with an older male and a seventh-grade boy.

They were furious at him.

I said, "No, no, no, no. It's all me. I didn't tell you."

This was before cell phones and before email.

That was the introduction. That was the start of the relationship.

I came to make my commitment the following year, in eighth grade. I had an amazing accountability group through high school with Scott and two other guys.

We met every Wednesday morning for three years at Mrs. Turner's restaurant. We called it an accountability group. It was really a hot-seat group to keep us on the straight and narrow path.

Hard questions in eighth grade. It was crazy, but it was great.

Those were the most important roots. I talk about the roots of community, football, and sport, but those were the bedrock foundations — built not on sand, but on truth, the Word, fellowship, and accountability.

That was where the foundation was built.

The Importance of Brotherhood

Ric Hansen: Are you still connected with those same group of guys?

Brock Huard: Not as close with Jason and Eric. Maybe annually I'll ping them or what have you.

But that experience taught me a valuable lesson.

Steve and Graham and I have walked through similar experiences on Wednesday mornings at 5 a.m. for a decade. We've walked through parenting, kids, new friendships, new relationships, and a lot of life together over the last 10 years.

Ric Hansen: That's one of the things I wanted to talk about. I actually planned it for later, but since it's come up now, it's a perfect time.

At a live event in Seattle a few years ago, you recreated your men's group on stage. How crazy and vulnerable is that?

What gave you that notion? And I want to jump into the men's group idea because there were some specific things that made it work then and make it work now.

Is this group still active every Wednesday?

Brock Huard: We've all moved. Three of the four of us have moved, so we're all over the country. But we still do this via a Teams meeting on Wednesday mornings.

It isn't in person at Mercury Coffee Shop like it was for many, many years. But we've been able to keep going. Lord willing, those bonds will stick, and that rope of four of us can continue to hold together and journey together.

It's what I knew.

Being a coach's son, being around football — the ultimate team sport, the ultimate accountability sport — I lived that and breathed that for so many years.

I'm a team guy. I'm not a lone wolf. Frankly, I don't think any of us men can be.

There's a reason that when Jesus came, He could have been the lone wolf, but He brought 12 knuckleheads together and walked through life with them.

It's the only way the church is going to flourish and grow. It's the only way you're going to have community. It's the only way, in our sinful flesh and desires, that we can repent, grow, and walk together.

My buddy Steve Lemmering is a brilliant guy, and we were preparing for this event. I involved the guys and asked, "What do you think? This is the group. This is where my heart is going."

I think it was Steve's idea to say, "It's local. Why don't we bring the table right from the coffee shop?"

So we did.

We sat around that table in front of four or five hundred men instead of talking about what we do. We showed them what we do.

We went through one of our lessons. At the time we were reading a biblical parenting book together. We just reenacted what it would look like if we were sitting at the coffee shop that morning.

Those men could actually see it, not just hear us talk about it. I think that's an important tool.

Building a Men's Group

Ric Hansen: That event is available on YouTube if somebody wants to look it up.

Is there some magic or trick to bringing these folks together? Is it a work of the Holy Spirit? Somebody might say, "I'd like to have a group like that, but how?"

Brock Huard: About a year later, I spoke at an amazing event in Spokane, right before COVID hit. It was 2020.

It was a huge group, and I really challenged them. I could hardly speak during the worship before my presentation. I had never been a puddle of tears like that. I couldn't even function.

I knew, "Okay, get out of the way. The Holy Spirit is going to work through you in your mess right now."

I had a lot prepared, but it turned into a very clear message to those men:

I don't want to hear the excuse that you don't have time.

I don't want to hear that you don't have men in your life.

This group has a dentist and an orthodontist. Two of them are up before the sun. I'm not. Another buddy is a night owl who doesn't sleep.

But 5 a.m. was the only time we could do it.

Realistically, 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning — there's no work meeting, no sick kids yet, no sporting event. There are no excuses.

I challenged those men — or, really, the Holy Spirit challenged them.

I gave them my email and said, "I want to hear from some of you, because I know this isn't me. I know the Spirit is speaking to many of you men out there."

You've used the excuse of time. You've used the excuse that you don't have a couple of guys you want to walk through life with.

Yes, you do.

Through schools, events, sports, church, and community, there are enough like-minded men that you could find at least one or two.

Then you do the hard part: be transparent, be vulnerable, and be willing to put out the awful sin nature that we battle — and then experience the redeeming, Holy Spirit-led, miraculous work that happens.

That group, Ric, I could do three hours on what we've walked through in 10 years.

We walked through one of my buddies sawing his fingers off in a wood accident.

We walked through another buddy being run over by a truck.

Another buddy fainted multiple times and went to Overlake Hospital. They said he was fine. His wife said, "He is not fine. Something is going on."

They were going to release him. She said, "You will not release him until we know what's going on."

His heart stopped for eight seconds. They kicked back on and said, "Okay, something is wrong here."

We've walked through a suicide attempt.

We've walked through pain and agony.

But my goodness, there has been so much fruit born out of that men's group.

I don't think I'd be talking to you on a podcast like this if it weren't for those men, and certainly if it weren't for Eric and Jason and Scott 25 years ago.

Four Areas of Accountability

Ric Hansen: There were four things that you documented at each meeting. Is that still going on today?

Brock Huard: Yeah. That's the way this group of men is wired.

Every one of us is a little different, but we're all fairly analytical, goal-oriented, and driven. That's fine. Not everybody has to be.

It was a neat gift from Jeff Kemp, the old Seahawks quarterback who's been in ministry. One of my buddies, Graham, had been in a small group with Jeff.

Jeff had apparently heard this from someone else and said, "Here's a chance every week to document where you're at."

It's a tent pole each week to measure — not from a legalism standpoint, because we're never good enough, but from an honest standpoint.

First: How is your walk with the Lord?

On a scale of one to ten, have you been in the Word? Have you been prayerful? Humble? Obedient? Are you dying to your wife?

Then: How is your relationship with your wife? How are you leading? How are you serving?

Then: How is your relationship with your kids? How are you parenting?

And finally: How are you doing at work?

We walk through each of those on a weekly basis, and it gives us a little gauge.

You might say, "Wow, at home it's a two."

That gives the rest of us a chance to pray that week for some breakthrough or healing.

Or maybe it's a ten, and we get to watch God work through hardship and pain.

One of my buddies is a scribe, and he put all of this into a small journal for one of our Christmas gatherings with our wives.

You can go back and look at it: "Look at what the Lord did in this situation. Look at that redemptive act. We prayed specifically over this, and He answered that prayer."

It's life-giving. It's lifeblood. It's what we need in our walk and journey as men.

And again, why did Christ put 12 knuckleheads together who were sinful and proud and asking, "Am I the favorite? Am I the best?"

Peter said, "I'll walk on water because I'm the man," and then falls through the water.

One of them left and totally failed and backstabbed all of them.

That's not unlike the world we have to walk through today.

I think that's why we need one another in a group and, in particular, in a small group.

Faith and Sports Come Together

Ric Hansen: Not only in this group, but you also had the opportunity to hang with football players who were Christians.

You would think the sports world would be the secular part of your life, and the Christian thing would be a different part. But you were able to blend all of that, with guys like John Kitna, Matt Hasselbeck, and Jim Zorn.

Tell us how those relationships worked back in the day.

Brock Huard: You're pointing in some ways to this podcast that the Lord just opened up.

Years ago at the radio station in Seattle, they said, "I need you to do a podcast."

I said, "I really don't have the margin for that. I'm doing everyday radio during the season. I'm on the road every weekend calling games. My kids are all at home. Time is really tight."

They said, "No, we really need you, and it can be whatever you want. The canvas is yours. It's college football. It can be 20 minutes. We need the content for the station."

I said, "Anything I want?"

They said, "Yeah."

So I looked around. There were a gazillion sports podcasts. There were wonderful men putting sermons and ministries into podcast form, doing what you're doing, Ric.

But there weren't many that had the intersection — the crossroads — of faith and sport.

So I presented that to them.

I said, "If I'm going to do this and spend time that I don't have, then it has to be something fruitful and worthy. This is what I'm willing to do."

I honestly thought they would say no.

I figured they'd say, "We're a secular business. We can't put faith on our air."

Instead they said, "Yeah, absolutely. We totally get it."

I was like, "Really?"

Then came the question of sponsorship.

Many of the advertisers I'd worked with on radio were believers, and many were willing to partner with me.

But I had this leading: "I would love to see a ministry support it."

Not only would we put faith and sports on the air, but what if a ministry or para-ministry could support, advertise, and market it?

Fast forward a few weeks.

I'm on an airplane flying back to ESPN in Connecticut, connecting through Denver — which I almost never did.

If you look at the normal flights from Seattle to Hartford, I probably made that trip 500 times, and 499 times I went through Washington Dulles or Chicago O'Hare.

This one time, there was a connection through Denver, and it got me there quicker.

I'm sitting in the window seat doing what I normally do — praying for a small person next to me, because I take up a lot of room.

Sure enough, Mike Johnson comes and sits next to me.

He's flying to Denver and ultimately going to Colorado Springs. He works for Compassion International, which is headquartered in Colorado Springs.

We had been part of Compassion, sponsoring a girl named Jessica from El Salvador.

So we get to chatting.

"What do you do, Mike?"

"I'm the marketing director for Compassion."

"Really?"

Then that leading came: "Are you going to ask him?"

It felt like the Lord had put this unusual flight there and put the head of Compassion's marketing next to me.

So I said, "Mike, this is a really weird question, but have you ever sponsored a podcast?"

He said, "No, but talk to me about it."

I explained the vision. I told him about the Kitnas, Dungys, Dilfers, teammates, Hasselbecks, and others I knew who loved the Lord.

I wanted to create a podcast where they could simply share their story — the intersection of their faith, their sport, and their gifting.

He said, "I'll tell you what. I get back from Colorado, you get back from ESPN, and let's have lunch together."

And you never know.

Six years later, I've worked with Compassion in many ways. I've traveled with them numerous times, and they've been incredible partners.

They've sponsored that podcast for six years, and it's still going.

We've had somewhere around 50 or 60 episodes, and we'll continue to do it in the years ahead.

What an amazing gift of being willing to pray, listen, pull the trigger when the opportunity comes, and watch the Holy Spirit do His thing.

Above & Beyond

Ric Hansen: The podcast is called Above & Beyond. People can find it on Apple, iHeart, and the other podcast directories.

Brock Huard: And I'm taking a long time. You probably had a hundred questions.

Ric Hansen: You've already gotten into three of them. I know.

Brock Huard: Whatever your list was, just throw it away because I talk way, way too much.

We're talking with football great and sports broadcaster Brock Huard on Amazing Greats.

One of my podcasts was with Dabo Swinney, the Clemson coach. The day before, I had done one with Gus Malzahn, the then-Auburn coach, now at Central Florida.

With Gus, I had prepared about 200 questions because he's not long-winded, and I needed about 200 in an hour.

With Dabo, in an hour, it was two questions.

It was storytelling time.

But I will say this about Above & Beyond.

We had a secular producer or manager of all the podcasts. Before we released the Matt Hasselbeck podcast — the very first one — he said, "Temper your expectations. This isn't your radio show. This isn't an audience of 30,000 to 50,000. This is a much smaller platform. If we get 500 or 1,000 downloads, that would be amazing for the first one. You've got to build it."

I said, "Okay."

But I was praying for bigger.

I'm thinking, "Nah, I kind of want to see the Lord work."

We posted it.

We were driving as a family to spring training to watch the Mariners. We're on I-5, and all of a sudden I'm getting texts from my producer, who is a believer.

He said, "Do you see what's happening?"

I'm driving in Sacramento. I said, "No. What's happened?"

He said, "This podcast is blowing up."

The first one was hitting the Apple top ten or some ridiculous metric.

Five hundred turned into something like 50,000 downloads.

Again, none of my own doing. Just the Holy Spirit taking that and saying, "Okay, we'll plant some seeds here."

Over six or seven years of doing that, just like your podcast, when you get emails from people all over the world who have taken in that content, it's the Lord's work.

A Podcast That Can Keep Working

Ric Hansen: What's wonderful about your podcast — and hopefully what we're trying to do too — is that the testimonies have a long life.

Somebody who hasn't been following you week to week can jump back and find somebody they want to learn more about.

There's a library available, and any one of those episodes is vital today.

Brock Huard: I just got a letter from a young gentleman. He's a sophomore at Boston College, and he knows the Lord is working on his heart.

He wants to do kingdom work, but he wants to do it through sports. Right now he's a football manager at Boston College.

He said these podcasts — listening to my testimony, John Kitna's testimony, Steve Largent's testimony — have motivated him to realize, "This is what I can do. I can live out my faith, I can do kingdom work, and I can do it through the avenue of sport."

Just this week.

Again, not coincidence. You and I finally got a chance to connect, and I got an amazing note from a college student on the East Coast I'd never met before.

I emailed him back and said, "Keep doing it. Keep doing the Lord's work. If He's putting it on your heart, keep praying. And when those doors open, go through them."

That's some of the greatest wisdom I've received.

An early pastor of mine said, "What doors are opening? What doors is He opening? And are you willing to go through them when He opens them?"

Be careful if you want to pray over God's will for your life, because He may open doors you never envisioned.

You better follow because He's opening them for you and for His purpose.

Compassion International

Ric Hansen: That's what I loved about your airplane story. Somebody might have said, "When I get home, I'll email him," and then you get home and forget about it.

You seized the opportunity.

I don't want to go too far away from Compassion International because I wanted you to explain their mission.

Brock Huard: Their mission is saving kids in Jesus' name who are in the greatest poverty around the world.

It's pretty clear. They don't take Jesus out of it, which I love.

A lot of folks do. Compassion made a decision years ago that even though they could potentially get more grants and more aid by taking Jesus out of it, they would not.

They want to release children from poverty in the most desperate countries around the world, and they're going to do it in Jesus' name.

At the time of this conversation, 2.3 million kids were sponsored around the globe in 22 countries.

I've traveled to El Salvador and Guatemala with them. I envision traveling to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Thailand.

As long as the Lord has me here, I envision more and more of that coming down the road.

Ric Hansen: I love that about Compassion International. There's another organization called Cure International. Brandt Hansen is a radio show host I know. Cure is similar. They do it in Jesus' name.

World Vision in Federal Way does the same.

Brock Huard: What I love about Compassion is they don't Americanize it and say, "This is the American way, and this is how you have to do it."

They look at the churches in those communities.

It's really centered around the local church that is alive, thriving, and in need.

They go into that church and say, "Here's the resources. We're going to build an after-school project for you where we'll nourish your kids, educate your kids, help them medically, and help them spiritually."

It really is empowering the local church.

When I've gone and traveled to these projects, it's not Americana. It's Guatemalan. It's those people who are serving and those churches that are alive.

It's coming alongside them and supporting them and building those projects in their communities to continue to make an impact and hopefully break the cycle of poverty through Jesus' name.

Sponsoring Jessica

Ric Hansen: You've sponsored Jessica for years, and she's become part of your life as well.

Brock Huard: Anybody can do that. You can go to Compassion.com and sponsor a child.

That was my wife's heart years ago when we were at church with Pastor Hutch and Compassion was part of their church.

She said, "It would be really great for Haley and Macy, our girls, to have someone about their age to write to, communicate with, and connect with — someone who lives in El Salvador and lives in a world unlike Bellevue, Redmond, Puyallup, Washington, or anywhere around here."

That was Molly's heart.

We eventually got to meet Jessica on a Compassion vision trip. She was 15 at the time, and our oldest was about 15 or 16.

She's now grown and graduated from the program.

Now Gerald is my child down in Honduras that I write to and connect with. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, I'll get to go to Honduras and see him personally.

Walking Through Unanswered Prayer

Ric Hansen: Let's talk briefly about challenges, unanswered prayers, and the times when you've wondered, "Where is God? Where's the help I need?"

Have there been occasions like that in your life?

Brock Huard: We're walking through that valley right now, Ric.

My youngest son, Titus, is 12, and we're in the process of losing one of his teammates to the most awful brain tumor and cancer that he was diagnosed with 10 months ago.

Those peaks and mountaintops and valleys never leave us if our eyes are open.

There's pain and hurt in our communities, churches, schools, friendships, and marriages all around us.

We're walking through that valley as we speak.

He's in the last few weeks of life.

Titus's baseball team has a core Christian message. It's a club team, and they're very clear that it's a Christian ministry. Each team has a chaplain.

Our chaplain is one of the coaches, Brad.

It's been a hard journey with these families, some who know the Lord and some who don't, as we journey with them while Jacoby is in his last few weeks here on this planet.

So as you ask that, again, the timing of you and I connecting on this is the Lord's timing, because we're walking through that hardship and pain right now.

Grief, Loss and Hope

Ric Hansen: I saw an interview with you involving Kay Geber. You were literally in tears. It was a situation involving suicide and depression.

I didn't realize you were actually dealing with something like that right now.

Brock Huard: The Lord has brought this into our family.

You see my little wristband there. I wear that with the words from First Thessalonians that we do not grieve as those without hope.

I've worn that wristband since that happened about a year and a half ago.

We were just in Washington last week. We went up to Brewster and saw the Geber family.

They're hurting.

I think a lot of folks will tell you that year two of the loss of a child can be harder than year one.

Year one, everyone is there — every birthday, every celebration, the first time, family, friends, church.

Year two is harder because many of those folks aren't there anymore, and yet the pain is just as raw and real.

We went from Brewster to Chelan and spent a couple days with a family that lost their 15-year-old son suddenly. They were our neighbors.

That was five years ago. Chaz is in heaven, and that's still a daily reminder, a daily conversation, a moment that brought our two families together forever.

The Lord has put those experiences in our lives.

I've told Titus, Haley, and Macy, my kids, that I didn't have any of this growing up.

I didn't walk through the pain of losing a classmate or friend to disease, accident, suicide, or anything like that.

We've now walked through that nearly half a dozen times as a family with friends and families in our community.

Ric Hansen: Maybe that's a God thing — placing you in the right place for those situations.

Brock Huard: I would eliminate the "maybe" from that.

There's no question that my wife has an unbelievable heart to serve and love, an empathy and compassion that are remarkable.

I think that's a way the Lord has chiseled me.

Compassion was not necessarily my gifting growing up.

Even through parenting or competing, my instinct was, "Let's go. Let's compete."

Compassion and compete share the first four letters, but then they diverge pretty quickly.

This has grown some of my compassion heart for sure.

Competition, Broadcasting and Christian Faith

Ric Hansen: There's something about being a Christian and an athlete — and a broadcaster, for that matter — that can make things challenging.

You're steeped in competition. You're desperately trying to beat out the other guy for a position or win a game.

How do you balance that?

Brock Huard: Media is kind of the same way.

You start doing radio and think, "Now I want to have the best radio show. I want the best ratings."

You do games and think, "I want to do the best games."

There's still a competitive vibe in media.

It's usually full of former players and athletes who are driven and want to compete.

I love Hard Knocks, even though the language is filthy, because it's a reminder of those cultures I was in — locker rooms and environments where you think, "Do you really need to swear every other word?"

Can't you deliver the message another way?

I never heard Tony Dungy swear in two years. He had great control of his tongue and wasn't that way.

But that didn't mean the locker room or assistant coaches weren't.

Navigating that has been a big part of my life — high school, college, professional football, and now the media world.

In the media world I live in, ESPN and FOX, being a Christian and a conservative is the minority for sure.

Ric Hansen: As an analyst, you're talking about what's happening on the field. You're evaluating people. Doesn't that get tough because you're being judgmental in a way?

Brock Huard: In a way.

Great wisdom was given to me early in radio.

Football isn't that hard because there is usually a protagonist and an antagonist. There's usually a good and a bad. They usually want you to feature the good play.

But I had good counsel early on:

"When you have to give constructive criticism, say it in a way you'd be willing to say it to their face."

Usually that works.

Not all the time. There are still coaches who have been upset with my opinions.

I've had some fun friction conversations.

But most of them, at the end, say, "Okay, you're willing to say it to my face."

If you say something in a way you're willing to say to someone's face, they usually give you the benefit of the doubt, even if they disagree with your opinion.

A Positive Perspective

Ric Hansen: Is there any time in your broadcast career when they throw it to you for a positive spin because they know you're Christian?

Brock Huard: I don't know if they necessarily throw it to me for a positive.

We had a seminar, and one of my bosses was at the table. We were listening and having meetings, then lunch.

I was just pinging people with questions, which I normally like to do in those settings.

One of my bosses said, "You just like to ask so many questions and so many positive questions. You're such a positive guy."

I said, "Not all the time. You can talk to Molly and my kids."

But I think when you have curiosity and Christian faith and an eternal perspective, it's going to lead — hopefully — and shed a light in a pretty positive direction.

The Bubble Bath

Ric Hansen: At that live event — I think it was called Higher Ground, back around 2018 — a friend of mine told me one thing he loved about Brock Huard was that you were open and willing to talk about bubble baths.

He said you like bubble baths, and for a guy that's a little vulnerable to admit.

Brock Huard: I try to be pretty transparent.

In business, I've done some of that as well. I worked for four years in a commercial real estate development office, which I enjoyed between my playing days and the full bloom of my media work.

I got to see people put the cards on the table: "This is what the deal is."

That's usually how I handle business with agents, negotiations, speaking events, or anything else.

Here's what I'm going to talk about. Here's my time. Here's the opportunity.

I'm a fairly open book.

Sometimes on the radio, maybe too much. Sometimes in settings, maybe a little too much for my wife or kids.

But that's the way God made me.

And yes, those hot baths — but let me tell you, they're not just bubble baths.

They're for a purpose.

My back and neck ache at the end of the day. So a hot, hot bubble bath is the best recipe for success for me.

Ric Hansen: Very cool.

What's Next for Brock Huard?

Ric Hansen: What does your current schedule look like? You're currently on staff at FOX?

Brock Huard: Yep. I currently work at FOX.

I spent 12 years at ESPN doing games and traveling the country calling college football games.

This will be my fourth or fifth year at FOX — I should know that. I think I'm going into year four at FOX.

We just got a three-year deal, so I'll be doing that for the next three years — Lord willing.

I'll be calling college football games on Saturdays throughout the season, about 17 weeks and weekends away from home in a row.

That's been the routine for the last 16 years.

I'll do that for three more years, and then no promises after that.

It may be time to figure out some other steps in life.

I'll also continue doing local radio.

I'm still connected to the radio station in Seattle with Mike Salk. We've been partners for 12 or 13 years.

Mike sees the world 180 degrees differently from you and me, Ric.

I hope our listeners appreciate the fact that he and I come at most things from totally different ideological viewpoints and worldviews, yet we can talk for three hours and maintain a relationship for 13 years.

So I'll continue those two things.

Working with Compassion is certainly in my heart, and that's something I expect will grow over the years.

I'll coach kids' football teams, watch my girls play basketball, love on my wife, build friendships and relationships and community — and try to figure out if there's any margin left for some sleep.

Ric Hansen: You're still a young man. You've got a long way to go.

Brock Huard: I don't know. I'm 46, but the chiropractor yesterday said my back is 65.

Ric Hansen: You just need more bubble baths.

Brock Huard: Exactly.

Living Out the Great Commission

Ric Hansen: The Great Commission is to go tell the world about Jesus and share the Gospel.

What's that look like for Brock Huard?

Brock Huard: It's an everyday thing, Ric.

That's the last 40 minutes of what we've been talking about.

It's sitting on planes. It's sitting with coaches. It's sitting with players. It's responding to emails and letters from kids and young men and women all over.

It's a daily thing: open your eyes, open your ears, and open your heart.

It's for everybody.

You don't have to be an evangelical preacher.

Every day, where are those relationships available?

It's Titus's football team right now.

I thought I'd just dip my toe in and help the coach out with a pretty established team.

Then these last three weeks have been an absolute blast — pouring into those kids and coaches and showing them you don't have to scream and yell and cuss.

You can encourage.

You can work hard.

You can compete.

You can do those things in a biblical way.

The Great Commission is an everyday deal.

And certainly with where the Lord has put me in media — radio and television — that field and opportunity is rich.

There aren't a lot of like-minded conservative Christians in the locker rooms and media fields where I find myself.

Following the Doors God Opens

Ric Hansen: When you look back, you see that the broadcast platform came from the sports platform, all of which started when you were in eighth grade.

It's been an amazing journey — and a continuing journey.

I didn't get to my hundred questions.

Brock Huard: No. You got to about seven.

Ric Hansen: That's God's number.

I really appreciate your time. God bless you and all the things you do and continue to do.

I look forward to following your career and hopefully keeping in touch.

Brock Huard: Ric, I look forward to watching Amazing Greats grow.

And I look forward to watching the doors that He opens for you.

It doesn't matter where it is. It doesn't matter what scale it is. It doesn't matter if it impacts one life.

If you bring one person to the kingdom through the work you're doing, God bless you and God bless it.

Thank you for having me be a part of it, for finally connecting, and for being patient.

You have the fruit of the Spirit of patience because you were patient for like seven months to make this happen.

Who knows? Maybe years from now we'll reconnect again and do it again.

Ric Hansen: All right. Sounds great. Thanks, Brock.

Good stuff from Brock Huard, our guest on Amazing Greats.

My name's Ric Hansen.

Thank you for listening and/or watching today and spending some time with us.

If you like this, please hit subscribe, hit like, share with a friend, and whatever else you can do to spread the word about Amazing Greats.

Thanks to Clem Daniels for being our producer and editor of this podcast, and to Keith Shipman and George Tolls for hooking us up with Brock Huard today.

God bless from Amazing Greats.