Not Quite Paul on the Road to Damascus

A few days ago, a couple of friends of mine invited me a Christian Union benefit reception in New York City. Christian Union, for those of you who don't know, is a ministry dedicated to advancing the Christian faith in Ivy League schools. Whether the focus of the ministry is elitist or not is something I'm not going to get into at the moment.

I did find interesting, and I told this to my friends, was one of the featured guests in this benefit reception:

Keith Elias, Princeton '94

Former NFL Player

When I was at Penn, Keith Elias distinguished himself as public enemy #1. He was an excellent running back, outstanding by Ivy League standards, and his brash personality and incendiary comments poured gasoline on the rivalry. In an article in Sports Illustrated, Elias did his best Jeremy Shockey / Brian Bosworth imitation, shaving his hair in a mohawk and matter-of-factly took verbal shots at Penn, saying it was a shame that Penn could admit players who could not be admitted to Princeton. 

The article outlines the response from Penn students:

Reaction was not subtle. The sports editor of Penn's The Daily Pennsylvania called Elias "a joke" and "a loudmouth" in print. The Penn marching band prepared a halftime routine about telephone Princeton admissions: "Press 1 if your father went to Princeton. Press 2 if your grandfather went to Princeton. Press 3 if you were a bad child actress. Press 4 if you're a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. (Beep.) You're admitted." 

On campus, the vitriol was palpable. We absolutely hated this guy. Chants of "Elias [stinks]!" were plentiful, and believe me, there were far worse things that were said.  Following the loss to Penn and at a basketball game at Princeton's Jadwin Gym, Penn fans in the balcony started heckling Elias, to which he responded by charging in a rage towards the balcony, only to be restrained by the arena guards. 

And the theory that it was just the bitter school rivals that disliked him can be put to bed. Eight years ago I had asked two Princeton friends, one from my church and one from business school who had actually played on the football team, what they had thought of Keith Elias, who was at Princeton when they were. The friend from church said he was "kind of a arrogant jerk", and my friend from business school used a figure of speech that would be inappropriate to write on a family-friendly blog.

I did hear that Keith became a Christian many years ago, during his time in the NFL. The Lord moves in mysterious ways, but I'm thrilled that Keith is a brother.