Tony Dungy’s Wife Lauren Dungy is an author of a children’s book with Tony. The book is called You Can Be A Good Friend, and it’s a children’s book meant to explain the importance of being a good friend and how to be a good friend. They have been known to go to elementary schools and give talks to kids about these types of things.
Dungy’s wife Lauren seems to be just as religious and value-oriented as Tony, and she recently posted on her facebook public figure account that she’d been inspired by her Deacon to go and speak in public more, and so Lauren spoke to over 2000 people at Union University with Tony. She’s said she doesn’t normally feel comfortable speaking about her faith to the public, but she saw this as a way for her to ‘step “out of her comfort zone” for the lord.’ This kind of talk always gives me the willies a little, but fair enough. She’s really a lovely lady that enjoys helping people. Lauren’s also recently taken part in programs to support mothers such as MOPS (Mothers for Preschoolers) and iMom (some other motherly-type deal). Lauren and Tony have adopted children, and they have 7 sons and daughters. Lauren and Tony experienced the pain of losing a son back in 2005 when her son James was found dead, having killed himself.
Tony himself is known as a pious, scholarly type and has a gentle, reasonable demeanor, which made his comments about Michael Sam all the more jolting for a lot of people. He basically said he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam because it would have been too difficult and too distracting to have to deal with his sexuality and the teams’ responses to his sexuality. It’s been speculated that it may have been a way to enliven his professor-like reputation as a sports broadcaster, but that seems to be a residual effect in hindsight. The way he framed his response was somewhat callous and insensitive to the gay and lesbian community, as it was an opportunity for Dungy to support Sam’s introduction into the league instead of brush him off. The incident has rightly been contrasted with the re-introduction of Michael Vick by ESPN sportswriter Jason Whitlock, who has said that although he respects Dungy, he’s shown a kind of moral inconsistency when compared to his staunch support of Vick. Though his wife Lauren will always support him, I wonder if and Tony and his wife Lauren privately share feelings of disdain for homosexuals in professional sports because their lord (a.k.a. their religious organization) does.