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The NFL's next King
Posted: Thursday January 20, 2000 06:06 PM
When he was 12 and living in St. Petersburg, Fla., Shaun King read about a semi-pro tennis tournament that was being held in Tampa and instantly became convinced he could win the whole damn thing. So when his parents got home from work, King sat them down together in the living room and then ran through a detailed presentation that listed all the reasons they should fork over the very expensive entrance fee so Shaun could take on a field of mostly college tennis players and club pros. "Well Shaun," said his mom, Carolyn, "That's a very convincing argument. But honey, don't you think it might be a good idea to actually buy a racquet and take a lesson or two before you take on pro tennis players?" "No," Shaun replied. "I can do it. I believe I can do it." That just about sums up Shaun King and his improbable run with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFC Championship game. Last week King came alive in the second half against the Redskins and led the Bucs to a 14-13 win in the second round of the playoffs. It was the first time since Pat Haden guided the Rams in 1976 that a rookie QB won a playoff game. Still, everyone seems to be counting the Bucs out of this week's game with St. Louis. Not me. There is no smarter, classier, more dignified or well-respected coach in the NFL than Tony Dungy. I've seen the Bucs' defense and thought to myself, They're so fast it's like the VCR is stuck on fast forward. I've also spent time with the NFL's next real King, who is 5-1 as a starter. Gimme the Bucs. Shocking, right? Not really. Not when you realize that Shaun King has always been a superstar, he's just been waiting for someone to pay his entrance fee. "The things that discourage the average person only act to motivate Shaun," Carolyn told me. Late in the regular season, the King and I returned to one of his childhood homes and walked around a park in Tampa where he once played pick-up football and dreamed of a career with the Bucs. On the way there I asked King who his favorite quarterbacks were and he responded, without hesitation, "The ones that won. "When the pressure is at its worst and everything looks bad -- that's when I want people to believe in me the most." King was recognized almost instantly in the park and was quickly surrounded by children with 1,001 questions. "Where is Warren Sapp?" asked a girl in pigtails. "When they hit you, does it hurt?" wondered a boy in a Warrick Dunn jersey. "It hurts man, it hurts a lot," replied King. "Aren't you the guy who threw that interception on Monday night?" "Yeah, that's him," another child answered. "But so what, they won the game didn't they? The Bucs always win when Shaun's in there." It's been that way his whole career. He turned around a poor prep program as a teenager. And in 1998-99 King led Tulane to its first undefeated season in 70 years. "It never mattered if we called the right play or had the wrong formation or a bad snap or 10 guys on the field," said Green Wave assistant coach Frank Scelfo. "Shaun would make it right and make something happen." Still, what Scelfo remembers the most about King is not anything from the football field. You come across this a lot when talking to people about King. His best stories are the ones away from the field. Dungy talks about his poise and leadership and intelligence for 20 minutes before even mentioning that in his first game King got every single pass audible correct. King has a very strong, but personal, faith that has calmed and guided him during his toughest challenges. Trust me, you hear a lot of shallow, religious gibberish in locker rooms these days, but King's faith is no cheap gimmick or fake shield. When you ask him how he could possibly be so poised making his first start on Monday Night Football, he recites a verse from Timothy 2 that his grandma once taped to the mirror of his bathroom: " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power ." Last year, King's Tulane team was in Memphis getting ready for the Liberty Bowl. There was a ton of media and a ton of pressure and as the team headed out of the hotel one day King paused and moved to the side of the lobby to quietly say hello to Scelfo's kids, Anthony and Jordan. The fans could wait. The media could wait. He scruffed up their hair and told them he would miss them after he left school. "That was as special a thing as I have ever seen in all my years of coaching," said Scelfo. "Shaun King is a hero to my sons." Later, when Tampa Bay scouts and coaches came to Tulane to talk about King, Scelfo tried to make this one deal: "I'll give you $100 every time someone says something bad about Shaun if you'll give me a dollar every time someone says something good about him." The Bucs declined the deal. Good thing. If they hadn't, Scelfo would probably own the team by now. Sports Illustrated staff writer David Fleming explores the sometimes weird and wacky side of sports every Thursday. Click here to send an e-mail to Flem, or address it yourself: flemfile@aol.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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