Dungy was opinionated as a teenager, and one experience he shared in the book was when following his Junior year at Parkside High School he quit the basketball team in protest of what he thought was racist bias by the school, who for some reason did not want two African American captains simultaneously. During high school Dungy excelled at both basketball and football before eventually playing football in college. His three siblings, Sherrie, Lauren and Linden, all hold professional level jobs of which Dungy respects greatly, he accepts that whilst his line of work gives him more notoriety in many circles, they’re doing jobs of much more importance. His mother and father were both teachers and he was raised with the expectation that he and his siblings would be college graduates also.

Tony Dungy was born in Jackson, Michigan to college graduate parents. It has certainly left me believing that it is possible to be successful in sport whilst staying true to your calling and faith. Dungy did a very good job of discussing his professional career using the NFL to share his faith and belief’s with the readers. Dungy highlights that although football was a part of life he enjoyed, he always viewed it as a means to do more. Dungy believes he was following his calling, and his role in the NFL was chosen for him, to have more of a lasting impact on society than just to win trophies. Dungy is a devote Christian and throughout the book he references his faith, his philosophies and his priorities, explaining how each helped form the foundation of his decisions in both personal and professional aspects of his life.

Although the book follows Dungy, first through his upbringing, his college days and then his professional career, the book is far more than just a chronological story of his playing and coaching success. Tony Dungy was the first African American head coach to win the Superbowl, when he lifted it in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts. Quiet Strength (Dungy & Whitaker, 2008) is an autobiography based on the life of Tony Dungy.

Tony dungy book quiet strength