Prayer is part of the game for many in high school football, but some question its place

Lew Johnston was hired as Western Branch High School’s football coach in 1985 and always led his players in a postgame prayer. He did the same as Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s coach until he retired in 2015.

In Norfolk, Lake Taylor’s Hank Sawyer has been praying with his players since he became the head coach more than 20 years ago. He also prayed with his players when he was an assistant coach at Granby High.

Danny Dodson, a former assistant under Johnston at Western Branch, implemented prayer when he became Woodside’s head coach.

All three coaches, and many more in Hampton Roads, have made postgame prayers as common in Friday night football as cheerleaders and the band.

“I’ve always done prayer,” said Sawyer, who sings in the choir and is a deacon at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Norfolk. “I’m a firm believer that God gets the glory out of everything that involves me. Only what you do for Christ is going to last in this world. I firmly believe that. Everybody who knows me knows that’s what I do.”

The Virginia High School League prohibits prayers broadcast or read by a public-address announcer, but it permits voluntary prayers like those conducted by high school coaches after teams shake hands in postgame.

“There is to be no publicly-sponsored prayer or publicly-sponsored invocation at VHSL state events,” the VHSL’s rule reads. “Privately-sponsored prayer, whether the speech of students or private schools, is not prohibited at VHSL state events.”

Still, this summer, some coaches kept a watchful eye on the Supreme Court. Coach Joe Kennedy of Bremerton High in Washington lost his job after praying on the field and being joined by players.

Kennedy initially prayed alone on the 50-yard line at the end of games. Students started joining him, and over time he began to deliver a short, inspirational talk with religious references, according to the Associated Press. Kennedy also led students in locker-room prayers. The school district learned what he was doing in 2015 and asked him to stop.

“He would just go to the 50-yard line at the end of the game by himself. He never invited anyone, he just knelt at the 50-yard line and gave thanks to God,” said Johnston. “Some of his kids saw it, and they joined in. And in time, some kids from other teams joined in. They had prayer time after the game.”

The Supreme Court sided with Kennedy in a decision that could strengthen the acceptability of some religious practices in other public-school settings. The court ruled 6-3 for the coach, with the court’s conservative justices in the majority and its liberals in dissent. The justices said the coach’s prayer was protected by the First Amendment.

“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority.

Kennedy has since asked to be reinstated.

Johnston, now an assistant coach at Western Branch, celebrated the news of the decision.

“I had been praying about it,” he said. “I was so happy to see the Supreme Court’s decision. I was so pleased and thanked the Lord when the ruling came down. I was like, ‘Wow, here is someone who stood up to the system.’”

In addition to leading his players in prayer, Sawyer — who has won three state titles and finished runner-up three times — brings the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in to worship with his team. And this past summer, he took more than 30 players to Triple-C Bible Camp in Ahoskie, North Carolina.

Sometimes, he has players who question what he does, and he’s fine with that.

“I’ve had some kids who first came in say they didn’t know what (prayer) was all about,” he said. “They thought it was a waste of their time. I don’t make anybody stay. But those kids decided to see what it was all about.”

Most of his players welcome it.

“I thought religion and football were kind of intertwined,” said Lake Taylor lineman Anthony Britton. “I thought it was normal.”

Added teammate Titus Holtz: “I think it’s great. It’s great to see how teammates learn how to pray.”

Sawyer said he doesn’t just teach his players about the importance of prayer, but how to use it when dealing with adversity.

“I don’t think God cares who wins (games), but I think knowing him, you get joy out of it,” he said. “More than that, when you have defeats in life and if you have a relationship with him, he’ll help you handle it.”

Leading prayers has drawn criticism from those who say players might feel pressured to participate.

Nelson Tebbe, a professor at Cornell Law School, told Sinclair Broadcast Group after the Supreme Court decision that the concern was “that students that don’t share his convictions would be kind of relegated to a subordinate standing in the community because he’s a school official embracing one faith above others.”

Added Tebbe: “Because the football coach, even if he’s just an assistant coach, has significant power over them — and over whether they start, whether they play at all, how they get recommended into colleges.”

“The school has an obligation to protect the religious liberty of the players from people in positions of authority, and when he’s acting as a coach, he’s a representative of the state, of the government,” said University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock, also in an interview with Sinclair.

Local coaches said whether a player joins their prayer has nothing to do with football, and if done respectfully won’t make anyone feel like an outsider.

“We do it in such a way where kids don’t feel pressured,” said Woodside’s Dodson, now in his 24th season. “Guys who don’t want to pray don’t have to. That’s the way we’ve always done it. I completely respect their decision, no matter what they do. And it has nothing to do with playing time.”

“The reason why I got into coaching was to be a role model for the kids,” Dodson said. “And we pray to do our best, but also to glorify God.”

Johnston, who won at least a share of five Southeastern District championships at Western Branch and a VISAA Division III state title at Nansemond-Suffolk, has been devoutly religious for decades and said he wanted to share his faith in “a quiet way.”

“I tell people all the time, there’s nothing wrong with being silent with this, but I think the Lord wants me to speak out,” Johnston said.

“I can’t hide it. You have to let your light shine. But we also don’t want it to be a flood light that will blind the people. It’s amazing that not one single time did anybody say anything about it, ‘You got to stop this devotion and prayer.’ I just give thanks to the Lord for that.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.