A two-sport professional champion gave an inspirational message to prisoners in Clarendon County Tuesday.
Joe Gibbs coached three NFL Super Bowl Championship football teams and won three NASCAR Cup Series Racing Championships. Coach Gibbs spent about an hour with the inmates talking about the game of life, and he posed one question to them.... "Whose team are you on?"
"Only two teams in the game of life," Coach Joe Gibbs told inmates at Turbeville Correctional Institution Tuesday morning. In the blazing hot sun, Gibbs shared his message of hope with 600 prisoners. Armed guards stood on buildings and all around the grounds to make sure no one got out of line.
The former Washington Redskins coach and owner of Joe Gibbs Racing told the inmates they have to pick a team. "For all of that are on God's team is the fact that we can't lose in the end. We're gonna win."
Armed with his Bible, the NFL Hall of Fame coach wanted the prisoners to know they too deserve a second chance. "Their life is in a decision or process where they're looking for a second chance. We serve a God who gives second chances."
He talked with them about the path to faith that he found. Coach Gibbs talked football and racing, but told the inmates they're playing the most important game of all, the game of life. "You have influence on a lot of people and you're gonna have influence on a lot of people in your life."
He prayed for the inmates at the end of his message and encouraged them to get on the winning team. "If there's a chance that I could maybe reach somebody here today and have a chance to help somebody, I'd love to do that."
Coach Gibbs visits prisons throughout the year to share his testimony.
The state Department of Corrections says Gibbs' visit did not cost taxpayers.
