Feature
Story
 The Goal Line…
A Personal Prospective
By: Carol Cortright
"Winning the Super Bowl was
a life-long dream, especially as the first
African-American head coach, but it's not the most
important thing in my life. And although I love
coaching, it's not my most important job. My most
important job is being a father—being an All Pro Dad." -
Tony Dungy, former head coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It’s no secret that nonprofit/corporate partnerships
score big in cause related marketing. In addition to
building brand loyalty among consumers by showing that
it cares for something besides the bottom line, the
business partner helps elevate the profile of the
nonprofit, increasing its exposure and boosting
awareness of its programs. Often, this bond also
provides financial support or access to opportunities
the nonprofit could not otherwise afford.
So it goes for All Pro Dad, a successful joint venture
between Family First, a Tampa-based nonprofit devoted to
strengthening families, and the National Football
League. Local sponsors include Chick-fil-A, Fantastic
Sam’s, Lokey Automotive, and Nielsen Media Research. Now
in its tenth year, All Pro Dad has given thousands of
men across the country the inspiration and encouragement
to be better dads. With the help of NFL spokesmen like
Tony Dungy, monthly Dad’s Day events, seminars and daily
e-mails, All Pro Dad gets fathers more involved in their
children’s lives.
"All Pro Dad is scoring big with men across the nation,”
says Dungy, now coaching the Indianapolis Colts and
active in the program there. “It's giving fathers the
equipment they need to do their most important job
well." (Incidentally, Dungy’s wife, Lauren, is an
ambassador for iMOM, Family First’s new program for
moms…but more on that later.)
A decade ago, the question “Do dads matter?” came up for
discussion. Family First president Mark Merrill had one
immediate answer. “Absolutely! It’s as necessary to have
a father involved (in a child’s development) as it is to
have a mother involved,” he said. “Family is the
foundation of everything good in this country.”
Merrill practices what he preaches. A few years after
they were married, Merrill and his wife wanted to get
involved in an organization that supported families. “We
searched and searched and didn’t find what we were
looking for. So we prayed about it.” The Merrills got
their answer when, in 1991, they joined with like-minded
state and community leaders, including the late Jack
Eckerd, and founded Family First.
 Merrill went from practicing law to heading up Family
First, a “more than full time” endeavor that keeps him
busy advocating for family issues from national daily
radio spots reaching six million listeners a week to
commentary and writings for publications including USA
Today, the Washington Times and Sports Illustrated. He’s
been a speaker at conferences and events for companies
such as Chick-fil-A, JP Morgan Chase and Royal Caribbean
Cruise Lines, and at major events hosted by NFL teams.
With five children at home, Merrill and his wife Susan
are uniquely qualified to offer parenting perspectives
and practical everyday advice, with the help of noted
experts in child development. So when the debate came up
about the relevance of fathers, Merrill saw a need that
Family First was fit to fill: providing resources aimed
at empowering dads to step up and play a more active
role in their children’s lives.
But it needed a hook, a theme, something really cool
that would make guys take notice… Again, divine
intervention - a friend Merrill knew from church just
happened to be an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. Clyde Christensen heard about Merrill’s
concept and knew this was just the thing that then-head
coach Tony Dungy would love. One meeting with Dungy and
he “latched on” and has been involved with the program
ever since, said Merrill.
Tony Dungy explains his passion for the program and why
it works so well: "I want to be a good role model to
children. One of the many things I love about
professional football is the opportunity to positively
impact the lives of kids. Children will stand in lines
for hours at practice or at a game just to get a
‘hello,’ a handshake or an autograph. Many children look
up to coaches and players as role models. They'll rattle
off our position, years in the league and even where we
went to school. It brings joy to my heart to spend even
a few moments with them encouraging them to honor their
mom and dad, go to church, work hard in school, and do
the best they can in all they do."
The All Pro Dad program incorporates three simple
components:
-
Spend one minute a day reading the “Play of the Day,”
a free daily e-mail that offers “concise and hard
hitting” advice, with topics ranging from marriage to
raising teenagers
-
Spend one day a month at an All Pro Dad’s Day, a
one-hour monthly breakfast held before school or on a
Saturday where fathers and their children meet with
other dads and kids at school or a local restaurant
-
Spend one day a year
attending an All Pro Dad Father & Kids Experience, held
at the local team's practice facility or stadium. During
this 3-hour event, fathers and kids rotate through
stations and participate in interactive games while
learning fatherhood tips.
 Orlando elementary school guidance counselor Adriana
Council saw positive changes after the program was
implemented there. “We are a school with a lot of
families who struggle financially and, until All Pro Dad
came along, we had minimal father involvement,” she
said. “Once we started All Pro Dad’s Days, we now have
fathers passionately engaged in the lives of their
children and school events. I would encourage every
school to work with them.”
What makes an NFL player or coach eligible to join the
All Pro Dads Team Roster? According to the web site, it
takes “passion, discipline, work ethic, commitment and
loyalty.” Candidates are “handpicked by us,” says
Merrill, when signing up spokesmen. “We go by
recommendations from head coaches and others who know
teammates that exemplify those virtues not only on the
field but in their role as fathers.”
Tony Dungy takes this seriously. "As a football coach
with a demanding schedule, I have to work extra hard to
be a good father,” he says. “As I strive to be an All
Pro Dad, I need to be a role model for my
children—showing, not just telling, them who I want them
to be, and what kind of character I want them to have."
NFL spokesman participation ranges from lending their
likeness and family-related biographical information to
publicity campaigns, and marketing collateral, to
attending the annual Father & Kids Experiences. Steelers
Coach and All Pro Dad Mike Tomlin even held a press
conference announcing the initiative’s launch in
Pittsburgh.
The program’s success has “far exceeded my
expectations,” says Merrill. In the last four years,
local chapters have sprung up across the country, going
from 45 in 2004 to 750 as of this summer. With an
average of about 40 attending each chapter’s events, at
least 30,000
 fathers and their children are spending
quality time with each other at least once a month
across the country, thanks to All Pro Dad.
What about the dads who prefer the diamond to the
gridiron? This summer, Family First launched a pilot
program, All Star Dad, in partnership with two Major
League Baseball teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Merrill is looking forward to
exploring more opportunities and further expansion into
this sports field as well.
And then there’s iMOM, Family First’s newest program,
founded by Merrill’s wife Susan. iMOM exists to “equip
mothers with information, ideas and encouragement to
positively impact their children in the areas of wisdom,
health, purpose and relationships.” iMOM’s first
ambassadors include Lauren Dungy, President of the
Colt’s Women’s Organization, motivational speaker and
founder/president of the Christian Sister’s Book Club;
Kathy Ireland, former international model and Chief
Designer and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide; and Mary
Donnelly Haskell, actress and recording artist.
Like the All Pro Dad program, iMOM components include a
web site full of relevant information, a free daily
e-mail called “the Espresso Minute,” and iMOM Mornings,
which are school-based breakfasts designed to bring
mothers and children together for support and
inspiration. Two innovative features of the program are
Drive Time CDs and Pillow Talk journals. The CDs are
described as “parenting tools for the busy mother who is
often in the car.” Pillow Talk is a creative journaling
exercise between mother and child, intended to open the
lines of communication by trading the journal back and
forth by leaving it on the other’s pillow before bed.
Like All Pro Dad, Mark Merrill sees iMOM as another
winning nonprofit program that local businesses will
want to identify with. “For us,” Merrill explains, “it’s
not only the financial support” that Family First
benefits from when working with sponsors and other
corporate partners. “We work with recognized companies
across the country, and in turn, it’s beneficial for
them because our nonprofit organization strengthens the
families in their communities.” Sponsors are finding
that “it’s just good business,” he says. “The families
that we help are also their customers. These families
will applaud them for being a part of it and give them a
more loyal customer base and possibly more business.”
“Life is all about relationships - relationships with
God, our families, friends and acquaintances,” Merrill
maintains. “Just like other areas of our life,
successful businesses thrive on good relationships.”
When socially responsible companies team up with
nonprofit organizations that work hard to strengthen the
community, everyone wins.
For more information about Family First and its
programs, visit
www.familyfirst.net,
www.allprodad.com
and www.imom.com, or call (813) 222-8300.
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