Tebow was born in Matkai City in the Philippines, to American parents serving as Baptist missionaries. During his mother Pamela's pregnancy, she suffered a life-threatening infection with a pathogenic amoeba. Due to the drugs used to awaken her from her coma and treat dysentery, the fetus experienced a severe placental abruption. Against the advice of doctors that it would be a stillbirth, she still decided against having an abortion. During the 2010 Super Bowl, two advertisements funded by Focus on the Family aired, which starred Tebow and chronicled his personal story as part of an overall pro-life stance. It was met with excessive controversy. Tim is the youngest of five kids. All of the Tebow children were homeschooled by their mother, who worked to infuse the family's Christian beliefs in them.
Living in Jacksonville, Florida, Tim's first time in the national spotlight came when he was a junior at 4A Nease High School. Tebow soon became recognized for his ability to evenly throw and run with the football, utmost competitiveness, and exceptional physical courage. Notably, during a game, late in the first half, Tim's right leg was injured. Misdiagnosed as just a bad cramp, Tebow played the last two quarters with a shattered fibula, including rushing for a twenty-nine touchdown. After that, Tebow didn't play another game that season (because of the extent of his injury) however, he was still named Florida's Player of the Year. And the next year, the senior Tim Tebow lead the Nease Panthers to a state title, earned All-State awards, was dubbed Florida's Mr. Football and again won Florida's Player of the Year. In addition, he participated in the All-America Bowl in San Antonio, Texas which has the top seventy-eight senior high school players in the nation that was broadcast nationally by NBC.
Prior to enrolling at the University of Florida, (where his parents met as students) Tebow spent three summers in the Phillipines with his father Robert, a pastor, helping him with his orphanage and missionary work. Thanks to an athletic scholarship, from 2006-2009, Tim Tebow attended and played for the Florida Gators. It is here, his impact and legacy on sports started to take root. Despite being a second string quarterback behind starter Chris Leak in 2006, Tebow was an epochal contributor to the Gators' success. On September 16th, his SEC debut against the Tennessee Volunteers, Tebow's highlights included a ten-yard run of his first carry and converting on a vital fourth down that resulted in a Gators' go-ahead touchdown. In the Oct. 7th game against LSU, he alone accounted for the Gators' three touchdowns, rushing for one and passing for two. Likewise, in the 2007 BCS Championship Game (Florida Gators V.S. Ohio State Buckeyes), Tim helped the Gators by throwing for a touchdown and running for another. The Gators won the title game 41-14. Also, out of the 2006 Gators, Tebow had the second most rushing yards.
With Leak's departure and amongst skepticism, Tebow became the Gators' starting quarterback in 2007. Even though Florida went 9-4 that year, Tebow amassed a multitude of awe-inspiring records, including: 55 SEC season total touchdowns (passing and rushing) and 20 SEC season rushing touchdowns. Two hundred fifty-four voting points ahead of Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, Tebow won the Heisman trophy, the third in Florida Gators' history, joining former UF players Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel. Adding to his reputation and character, in 2008, after the Gators shockingly lost their home opener to Ole Miss 31-30, Tebow addressed the media about the loss: “I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida's never done here. But I promise you one thing: a lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season and you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season, and you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God Bless.”
And true to Tebow's word, the Gators (12-1) never lost again. Remarkably, the #2 Gators defeated the #1 Oklahoma Sooners, 24-14 in the 2009 BCS Championship Game. Tebow's genuine teary-eyed promise and pledge was later engraved on a plaque that was placed outside the entrance of the new Gators' football facilities. In Tebow's last season, the Gators remained undefeated up until the SEC Championship game. Fueled by Tebow's pathetic performance and Alabama running back Mark Ingram's three touchdowns, Florida lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 32-13. In the 2010 Sugar Bowl, against the Cincinnati Bearcats, Tebow's final college game, he redeemed himself; Tim had 533 yards of offense, a record for a Bowl Championship and four touchdowns in a 51-24 Florida rout of Cincinnati. In December 2009, Tebow graduated from UF with a bachelor's degree in family, youth, and community services.
Tim Tebow, a devout Christian, during his college career consistently made references to biblical verses on his eye black. His John 3:16 for the 2009 BCS Championship Game garnered over 92 million Google searches. Tebow stated of the searches "It just goes to show you the influence and the platform that you have as a student-athlete and as a quarterback at Florida". In 2010, the NCAA proposed a ban against having any messages on eye black which the media dubbed “The Tebow Rule”, even though the NCAA insisted that Tebow wasn't the cause. An NCAA spokesman said "When this rule was proposed the committee did not focus on any one team or student athlete. That measure reinforces what the intended use of eye black is, which is to shade the eyes from the sun.” The NCAA's prohibition of words, symbols, and logos on eye black would of affected Tebow's (if he was still in college) most identifiable feature that had served as a personal sign to promote his Christian faith. How odd, considering that the NCAA worked around its by-laws to let Tebow and Florida boosters raise money for Uncle Dick's Home, the orphanage in the Philippines where Tebow does a majority of his missionary work.
As well, he has raised money for Shand's Hospital Pediatric Cancer Center in Gainesville and a trip to Disney for disadvantaged children. Immediately after graduation, Tebow began the Tim Tebow Foundation in January 2010. The Foundation is hoping to use the program Tebow has to provide faith, hope, and love to all those that need it. Presently the Foundation is reaching to four projects: the WI5H Program, that's partnering with CURE to built a hospital in the Philippines, Timmy's Playrooms and financial support to his father's orphanage, Uncle Dick's Home. WI5H is part of the Jacksonville-stationed wish-giving organization Dreams Come True. Its focus is to bring the dreams of children with serious illnesses to life by meeting Tim Tebow face-to-face. CURE is meant to provide assistance with children from developing worlds afflicted with physical disabilities. Timmy's Playrooms, is an expansion of the First and 15 program at UF; it will create playrooms in children's hospitals throughout the world. By mid-2013, the Tebow CURE Hospital in the Philippines should be entirely constructed and open, it'll specialize in orthopedics, mainly the healing of deformities such as: hydrocephalus, clubfoot and other conditions that can be corrected by surgery. Plus Tebow has visited American prisons, schools, church/youth programs, meetings and conferences, sharing Christianity with them all. Moreover, Tim supports more than forty national evangelists working in the Philippines.
Forgoing the 2009 NFL Draft, Tebow entered the 2010 one. Debates about his potential in the NFL were rampant. Even though his hometown Jacksonville spoke about picking Tebow in the third round, instead chosen in the first round of NFL 2010 Draft (25th overall) by then Denver Broncos' head coach Josh McDaniels and placed in the fourth-string quarterback position. His purpose in 2010 was to helm the wild horse formation plays, the Broncos' version of the wildcat formation. Overall, Tebow was used meagerly in six games and appointed the starter the final three games of the season; he threw for a total of 654 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions. The Denver Broncos had a miserable 4-12 season, but with two wins thanks inclusively to Tebow. However, in 2011, Tebow moved up the quarterback roster to back-up. And after a dismal beginning by Orton, new head coach John Fox replaced him with Tebow. Astonishingly, after the Denver Broncos had began the season 1-4 under Orton, Tebow kept winning games, mostly through sensational fourth quarter drives. As a result, the Broncos won the AFC West (8-8 record) and a spot in the playoffs, advancing past the first round against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 29-23 overtime victory, sealed by an 80 yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime for the win. Tim threw for a career high 316 yards and his passer rating of 125.6 set a franchise record for QB rating in a playoff game. The following week at New England, in an incredibly one-sided game, the Broncos lost 45-10, knocking the team out of the playoffs. Nevertheless, team President John Elway (a former Denver Broncos Super Bowl winning quarterback) confirmed that Tim Tebow would remain the starting quarterback for the 2012 season.
His popularity is such that Tebow's last name manifests as a word in the dictionary! Well, with an -ing at the end. Tebow taking a knee in prayer during an athletic contest has become a neologism known as “Tebowing.” It is derived from Tim Tebow's tendency for kneeling and praying. The origin of the word is credited to Jared Kleinstein, a Denver Broncos' fan. Through the social network Facebook, he posted an image of him and his friends imitating Tebow 's pose following an overtime triumph over the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 23rd 2011. In addition, there's also website submitted by other people also depicting numerous interpretations of “Tebowing” around the world. The life-sized wall stickers company Fathead, in December 2011, released a “Tebowing” sticker that quickly became the company's best selling item... in two days. And “Tebowing” has already officially been recognized as a word in the English language, due to its prominence of worldwide usage, similar to “Obamamania”.
Ultimately, Tim Tebow's birth was a bona fide miracle. Adoration of him, for his tireless altruistic nature, unshakable determination for God and his NFL profession hints that society isn't quite decayed yet, that people with an openly religious background or a strong moral compass can rise, succeed, and influence our sick world. He's the kind of man that is needed. Not to be worshiped, just respected, looked up to. Tebow is a gifted athlete and an extraordinary man because of God and he recognizes it, why else would he be spreading Christianity across the globe, unless he believed this? And whether or not people bash/admire him for his beliefs, how he acts or how he is, he won't ever relent. He's on a life-long mission and he's getting through to others and that'll be what he leaves behind, what he wants to leave behind. Not NFL records, no, the number of conversions, and happy healthy children, and better human beings in an almost demoralized world. One person can make a difference and elicit change.
He's the best type of superhero. REAL. Thank you Tim Tebow.
For more details about Tebow's charity whatnot: http://www.timtebow.com/
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