For a 17-year old in tiny Snellville, Ga., (population 14,900) in 1988, Hawaii seemed like the other side of the world.
After the trip it took to get to Manoa on his University of Hawaii football recruiting visit, Jason Elam seemed pretty sure it was.
In time it would come to be a life-framing adventure measured in perspectives gained and horizons opened as much as miles.
Elam longed to play major college football and while the marquee schools closer to home swiftly passed on him, UH beckoned, even suggesting an opportunity to be the Rainbow Warriors’ starting place-kicker as a freshman.
He became an instant success, kicking the game-winning field goal against eighth-ranked Iowa in the season opener, eventually earning All-America honors and going on to three Pro Bowls and being part of two Super Bowl-winning Denver Broncos teams in a 17-year NFL career.
This week, as it was announced that he would be on the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame ballot with an opening to become UH’s first player inducted, the 50-year old Elam reflected on how his time and acquaintances in Hawaii had helped shape him. Not only for a record-setting NFL career but for a global view that drives him now, traveling the country and the world to assist underrepresented communities with humanitarian efforts and Bible education.
“I think a lot of it stems from my time at UH, getting exposed to different cultures and all the diversity around the team and the state,” Elam said. “I think that really sparked something in me when I was a student back at UH.”
In the years since his 2009 retirement from the NFL, Elam, a father of six, has been a pilot, an author and humanitarian missionary, living in Alaska, the Middle East and the Carolinas.
An Academic All-American at UH, Elam said he engaged his faith while recovering from a season-ending injury his third year. It was that faith that drew him back to school to get a master’s degree in theology and currently onto a Ph.D program while he works with the Seed Corporation, the American Bible Society and others to distribute Bible translations in hundreds of languages.
Two years ago Elam was honored with the NCAA’s Silver Anniversary Award, recognized for his collegiate accomplishments and post-athletic career deeds.
“Really, I’m just kind of an ambassador just trying to bring awareness to a lot of the more marginalized and oppressed people around the world that don’t have any scripture whatsoever (in their languages),” Elam said.
He said there are 7,099 linguistically-distinct languages in the world, not including dialects, and “over 2,000 languages with not one verse, not one passage, of the Bible in that language. We’re trying to (change) that. There are 283 languages spoken in Houston alone.”
Elam said, “It is pretty amazing to go into some of these areas, lands you only dreamed about. You meet the people, their cultures and learn about their lives. You sit down and talk and eat with them. Sometimes it is camel.”
Elam said, “It is very fascinating and, then, I get to come back and tell my kids about the experiences, how eye-opening it all is and how I love what I’m doing and where I have been blessed to have my life take me.”
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
