Deion Sanders was known for his skill and swagger when he played both football and baseball throughout the 1990s and into the aughts. A multisport star, Sanders played in the NFL and major league baseball — although he achieved the most success as a football player.

These days, the 56-year-old Sanders is known less for what he did on the field and more for what he’s doing on the sidelines and what he’s saying in the locker room as coach of the University of Colorado’s football team.

Sanders is also making headlines for his Christianity and how he’s used his faith to motivate himself and his players. Following last Saturday’s big win against No. 17 Texas Christian University, Sanders did not hesitate when expressing his gratitude.

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“Thank you, Jesus. I'm so thankful right now,” he said in a post-game interview with Fox Sports during which his quarterback son Shedeur Sanders hailed his father’s leadership.

“This is a blessing,” the elder Sanders added. “Everybody … who supported us and all the hood that had my back. I thank you all. God, this is good.”

The 45-42 upset was big if you consider that TCU featured in the College Football Playoff National Championship last season, while Colorado only won one game last year.

Prayer controversy

Sanders, who took over the coaching duties at Colorado this season, has not been afraid to sound like a pastor during team meetings or with the reporters.

Last March, he became involved in a controversy involving his faith. When he left Jackson State at the end of last season for the University of Colorado job, for example, Sanders was mocked on social media for saying God had sent him to become the coach of historically Black university but he had decided to leave the job anyway.

Soon after, Fox News reported that a group wanted the university to force Sanders to stop preaching his religious beliefs to players.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent the University of Colorado a letter on Jan. 24 about Sanders’ references to Christianity and expressed concern that players were potentially being pressured to pray during team meetings.

The letter specifically pointed to one prayer, which read: “Lord, we thank You for this day, Father, for this opportunity as a group. Father, we thank You for the movement that God has put us in place to be in charge of. We thank You for each player here, each coach, each family. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

The group called on the university to teach Sanders about "his constitutional duties under the Establishment Clause" and to "ensure that Sanders understands that he has been hired as a football coach and not a pastor."

The letter had also urged the school to notify Sanders that he “will not continue to proselytize to his players or subject them to coercive team prayers,” according to The Christian Post.

In response, First Liberty Institute, a group that defends religious freedom, came to Sanders’ defense. It made clear the school could be violating Sanders’ rights if they told him to stop praying in public.

“We write to correct the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s misstatements regarding the requirements imposed by the First Amendment on public school employees’ religious expression,” the letter from First Liberty Institute said. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that public school employees may engage in religious expression and exercise; therefore, public universities like CU may not target Coach Sanders (or other members of the football staff) for exercising constitutional rights on campus.”

Writing in The Federalist, staff writer Shawn Fleetwood also came to Sanders’ defense:

FFRF’s arguments are extremely flawed, for two key reasons. First, as the group admits in its letter, the alleged concerns about Sanders’s prayers during team activities are from “Colorado residents,” not CU players or other members of the football program.

FFRF fails to name a single player or staff member who was coerced into praying. Nor does the group identify any individual who claimed he felt excluded by such practices. For all we know, these supposed complaints could have come from Colorado residents who don’t attend or have any connection to the university. It’s such a major flaw in FFRF’s justification for filing the complaint that even O’Rourke noted it in his response to the organization.

Second, the FFRF’s claim that Sanders’ use of prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which stipulates that government cannot establish an official religion, is meritless.

As noted by the First Liberty Institute, Fleetwood added, FFRF’s arguments “rely on an outdated legal test the Supreme Court disavowed” in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in 2022. That was case involved Joseph Kennedy, a public high school football coach in Washington state who had famously lost his job for leading prayers on the field after games who was later reinstated.

‘Prime Time’ on and off the field

Sanders was born on Aug. 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida. He attended Florida State University, where he showcased his extraordinary athletic abilities in both football and baseball.

As a football player, he was a standout cornerback, earning All-American honors and the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back. In addition, Sanders’ exceptional speed made him a force on the gridiron.

Sanders also pursued a baseball career. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 30th round of the 1988 MLB draft and made his major league debut with the Bronx Bombers in 1989. He later played for several MLB teams, including the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants.

Even on the diamond, Sanders, an outfielder, became known for his flashy play and often attracted attention for his base-stealing prowess and charismatic personality. Sanders played in the 1992 World Series and later admitted baseball was the toughest sport he had ever played. He had a career batting average of .263.

Sanders is best known for his dual-sport career, a rarity in professional sports. He often played both football and baseball in the same season, earning the nickname “Prime Time” for his ability to excel in multiple areas. His unique combination of talents and magnetic personality made him one of the most recognizable and marketable athletes of his time.

In the NFL, Sanders played for several teams, including the Atlanta Falcons (the team that drafted him in 1989) , San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens. He was an eight-time Pro Bowler and a two-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers and Cowboys. He became a pop-culture icon for his multicolored bandanas.

On the football field, Sanders was known for his ability to cover players, and quarterbacks often hesitated to throw in his direction. In his 14 seasons in the NFL, Sanders recorded 53 interceptions across 188 regular season games. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Off the field, Sanders was also a larger-than-life personality. He embraced the spotlight and became known for his flashy clothes and memorable phrases. Sanders was able to leverage his fame to pursue various business ventures, including a successful career as a sports commentator.

Coming to faith

The NFL Hall of Famer retired from pro sports in 2006 but remained involved in football as a coach and mentor. He worked as a football analyst for various TV networks and also served as a high school football coach, helping develop young players.

Beyond his athletic career, Sanders has been involved in philanthropy and community work. He founded the Prime Time Association, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting underprivileged children and teens through education and mentorship programs.

One of those moments as a mentor went viral. In a now-famous video from this past January, Sanders — now known as “Coach Prime” — gave his players at Colorado a pep talk about respecting women, both inside and outside the school’s football program, soon after taking over as head coach.

“Be courteous, be gracious and be polite,” he said. “And if there’s any dysfunction, obstruction with your girlfriend, fiancee or whoever, with any abuse, that’s it. It’s over. Don’t call me. Don’t have your momma call me.”

As the players listened, Sanders added: “You understand that? We’re going to respect our women wholeheartedly.”

It’s messages such as those that have garnered Sanders many supporters.

But Sanders’ journey to Christianity is a complicated one. It was in a 2018 interview with Andscape that a Sanders said a suicide attempt in 1997 led him to God. Sanders recalled that suicide attempt in his autobiography “Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life.” He drove his car off a cliff but survived what he said was a 30- to 40-foot drop without any major injuries.

It was after that moment, Sanders recalled, that he became committed to living a Christian lifestyle. Since then, Sanders has also claimed to have spoken in tongues during a health scare.

“I don’t believe you can be at your optimum without your faith,” he said. “Sports is sports, it’s a game. My faith is everything. It’s the gas that propels the courage, the truth, keeps me going. It’s the wind, it’s the wings, it’s the air that pumps into my lungs that provokes me to live. Faith is everything.”

Clemente Lisi is the executive editor at Religion Unplugged. He is the author of “The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet’s Biggest Sporting Event” and previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.