Ex-NFL player: ‘Live your lives for Christ’

NEW VERNON  Harry Flaherty thought that he stumbled on a winning formula early in his pro football career. The Middletown native was living a life most people can only dream of having. He was making lots of money, enjoying great popularity, and playing in the NFL and the USFL.

But for part of that career, Flaherty was reading from his own playbook of life — chasing his own earthly desires — and not from God’s playbook, which eventually would transform his life and make it even more fulfilling as a man living for Christ. Flaherty, N.J. director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) gave his personal witness on May 20, talking about “Who Am I? Whose Am I?” to men of Christ the King Parish here.

In the midst of his football career, Flaherty gave his heart to Jesus in 1985 inspired by participation in Bible study. He called Scripture a “love letter from God to all of us.”

“Early on, I had a good thing [money, popularity, and football career] but I made them a god thing, which was a bad thing,” said Flaherty, who spoke to members of the King’s Men, a group that parish started last year. “You are not important because of who you are, but because of whose you are. Your identity is in God. You are priceless in his eyes. Jesus commands us all to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ Live your lives for Christ,” he said.

Since 1995, Flaherty has been director of NJ FCA, part of a “powerful” international, Judeo-Christian values ministry. A nonprofit organization, it aims to help athletes and coaches find, craft, and continue a relationship with God. FCA is in every state and 108 countries and involves many Catholic schools. In the Diocese, both Delbarton School in Morris­town and Morris Catholic High School in Denville have been part of NJ FCA. Among its outreaches, NJ FCA holds summer camps for young people and coaches in football and other sports.

Born into a family of 10, Flaherty, 60, enjoyed success as an all-state athlete in football and baseball at Red Bank Catholic High School, where he has also coached.

“I never doubted that God loved me, that my parents loved me or that God existed but I looked to others for validation,” said Flaherty, who accepted a football scholarship from the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Mass., where he also played baseball.

At Holy Cross, Flaherty was a four-year starter and finished as the all-time leader in tackles and, as a senior set a school record with 152 tackles. In 1995, he was inducted into the Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame.

His professional career started as an undrafted free agent of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1984. A quadricep injury, however, led to his release before the season started, leaving him “crushed,” Flaherty said.

In 1985, Flaherty was signed with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL, where he noticed players attending Bible study. Some had overcome problems with drugs and alcohol with the “strength and power of God.”

“I thought that the Bible was a book of ‘don’ts.’ But it’s a book of ‘do’s’ — so much so that you don’t want to do the ‘don’ts,’ ” said Flaherty, who quoted John 3:16, which begins, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son.” He added, “I thank Jesus for dying for my sins and for coming into my heart, so that I can become the person he wants me to be. A changed heart is a changed life.”

Flaherty was not re-signed after his initial season with Tampa Bay. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1987 under legendary head coach Tom Landry. He was one of many replacement players for striking NFL players. Flaherty said he was impressed that Landry would “kneel down and pray with the players before the games. He put Jesus first.”

After his football career ended, Flaherty joined Sports World Ministries before moving to FCA. He is married to Janine Garrett, sister of former Dallas Cowboys' head coach Jason Garrett. They have five adult children.

The “Who Am I? Whose Am I?” event on May 20 included dinner and fellowship that preceded Flaherty’s talk. It was followed with a reflection by Jonathan Camiolo, Christ the King’s pastoral associate of adult education, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, and social outreach, and prayer by Father Brian Sullivan, pastor. The talk was part of the ongoing “In­spired” series of presentations by the King’s Men, Camiolo said.

Camiolo called Flaherty’s testimony “a story of faith and courage, which hopefully will inspire you.” He urged the men to celebrate each year the baptism days of their families, friends and themselves — the day they entered the story of salvation as children of Christ, who deemed them “worth dying for.”

“Harry’s talk was amazing and beautiful. For a person of such high stature, he was down to earth. It was impactful,” Bob zzzv, a King’s Men member, told The Beacon after the presentation.