đ 'God, Why Me?': Why Deion Sanders Never Asked That While Battling Cancer đ
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(ANALYSIS) Deion Sanders canât â or wonât â stop talking about the Lord.
Especially now.
This week, Coloradoâs head football coach mentioned God and faith at least three dozen times during a 40-minute news conference to discuss his private battle with bladder cancer.
The 57-year-old coach revealed that his bladder was removed to ward off an aggressive form of cancer. He appeared downright giddy as Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urologic oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, declared he had âbeatenâ the disease.
âIt has been a tremendous journey, and Iâm truly thankful that God is so good,â Sanders said, repeating that last part for emphasis: âGod is so good â you have no idea.
âYou have no idea how good God has been for me to be here,â he stressed again. âYou have no idea.â
At times emotional and other times humorous, Sanders â who plans to coach the Buffaloes this season â sported a cowboy hat, sunglasses and a necklace dangling a diamond-encrusted cross.
âItâs a totally different life,â the NFL Hall of Famer, who also played major league baseball, said of his post-cancer circumstances. âI mean, thank God, now I depend on Dependâ â the brand known for making incontinence underwear.
Since becoming a college coach â first at Jackson State and now at Colorado â Sanders has made repeated headlines with his outspoken focus on his faith.
In a September 2023 piece, Religion Unpluggedâs own Clemente Lisi noted that Sanders âhas not been afraid to sound like a pastor during team meetings or with the reporters.â
Lisi wrote:
But Sandersâ journey to Christianity is a complicated one. It was in a 2018 interview with Andscape that Sanders said a suicide attempt in 1997 led him to God. Sanders recalled that suicide attempt in his autobiography âPower, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life.â 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.
âI donât believe you can be at your optimum without your faith,â he said. âSports is sports, itâs a game. My faith is everything. Itâs the gas that propels the courage, the truth, keeps me going. Itâs the wind, itâs the wings, itâs the air that pumps into my lungs that provokes me to live. Faith is everything.â
In a 2021 video with David Emmert, senior pastor at Celebration Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, and retired coach Mickey Andrews, Sandersâ former defensive coordinator at Florida State, Sanders reflected on his faith journey.
âYou could sleep in the bed with two and three women, and nobodyâs satisfied,â he said of his former life. âYou got 100 suits, and you canât cover up the pain. You got 300, 400, 500 pairs of shoes, and you canât take a step in the right direction. You got nine to 10 cars in the driveway, and you ainât going nowhere. You got a 15,000-square-foot house, but you ainât got a home.
âBy the time you get to the bottom â because God is calling you collect, and you do not want to accept the charges because itâs going to cost you something â so that ringing, that ringing, that noise in your life, you canât get this out of your head,â he explained. âSo youâre just crying out, crying out for help.â
READ: Hoops and Healing: Why The Thunderâs First NBA Title Means So Much To OKC
Life becomes so much better, he suggested, when one surrenders his life to Jesus.
âThatâs why nobody canât tell me nothing about the gospel of Christ Jesus,â
Sanders said. âNobody canât tell me nothing about who he isnât because I had a moment in Cincinnati, Ohio, a condo by myself, when I finally got on my knees, and I surrendered.
âI said, âLord, if youâre here, take me. Iâm yours.â And the lights came into that room. That sound and the wind and the whistling came into that room. And itâs like papers was flying, and the light was so bright and radiant that I was just crying out, âLord, take me. Take me.â And it was the most beautiful thing that I ever saw. I had a real visitation.â
Sanders said he learned he didnât have to be perfect to serve God.
âGod hasnât called me to be perfect. He called me to be present,â the coach said on the video. âGod hadnât called me to the pulpit. He called me to the street. God ainât called me to the altar. He called me to the field.
READ: A Pitch To Follow Jesus: Baseball Fans Embrace Playersâ Faith Testimonials
âMy ministry is everywhere I am,â Sanders added. âItâs not just isolated in this place. Itâs everywhere I go.â
As a football star, Sandersâ swagger and persona earned him the nickname âPrime Time.â
But former baseball teammates recalled in a story by The Athletic in 2023 that Sanders was just âDeionâ in the locker room:
Tony âMortâ Walter, who has worked in the Redsâ clubhouse for more than 20 years, remembers Sanders sitting at his locker and reading his Bible. Occasionally Sanders would play music â gospel singer Kirk Franklin was his favorite â but he was among the most unassuming people in the room.
In Sandersâ coaching tenure, not everyone has appreciated his approach to faith, especially at a public university, as Kelsey Dallas â then with the Deseret News â noted in a news story last fall:
Deion Sanders is sparking religious freedom conflict again this season by incorporating faith-based messages into his football program.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted the University of Colorado in late September to say that Sanders cannot have his spiritual adviser pray with the team.
âUsing a coaching position to promote Christianity amounts to unconstitutional religious coercion,â the foundation argued.
But this week, another legal organization stepped in to defend Sandersâ actions and argue that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is misapplying the law.
Courts have long allowed for sports chaplains, as well as team prayers, according to an Oct. 14 letter from First Liberty Institute to the University of Colorado.
Fast-forward to this weekâs news conference.
Sanders, who has clashed with reporters in the past, welcomed journalists to inquire about his cancer battle. But he kept returning to the spiritual nature of his journey.
âLet me add this for you people that get upset when I start talking about the Lord,â he said at one point. âI never once through this whole journey said, âGod, why me?ââ
Why not? âBecause I would have to say, âGod, why did you sit me up in front of this wonderful group of people? Why did you give me the position of the head football coach of the prestigious university? Why did you allow me to father five wonderful kids? Why did you give me these relationships with these wonderful people? Why me, Lord, did I have some of the things that I have?ââ he added. âI can never say that.
âI said, âLord, whatever it is that youâre doing, let me know what it is so I can expedite the process. Because I know youâve got me. Iâve seen you have my back. Iâve seen you there in the midst of storms. When nobody knew I was going through hell, Iâve seen you guide me through. Lord, I would never say why me, but let me know what I can do so I can help.â
READ: Houston Texans Head Coach Says God Guides Him âFor The Good Of His Kingdomâ
Sanders voiced concern for anyone fighting cancer and urged those hearing his voice to get tested early so they, too, might have a chance to survive.
âGod bless you all,â he said as the news conference ended.
Inside The Godbeat
Religion reporting rocks.
Just ask the Arkansas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
At the recent 2025 Diamond Journalism Awards â promoting outstanding journalism in Arkansas and six neighboring states â the Arkansas Democrat-Gazetteâs religion editor, Frank Lockwood, won first place for investigative reporting. He was recognized for the second straight year for his coverage of the coverup of sexual abuse at a church.
The Diamond Journalism Awards were presented this past weekend. (Photo via Arkansas SPJ)
I was honored to receive the Diamond Journalist of the Year prize for my portfolio of religion stories, and my former Christian Chronicle colleague Audrey Jackson earned the Emerging Journalist of the Year award.
Not a bad night for the Godbeat!
The Final Plug
Long before his breakout success with âThe Chosen,â Dallas Jenkins wrote and directed the film âWhat IfâŚâ
Fifteen years later, itâs still a great film â and Religion Unplugged movie critic Joseph Holmes explains why this week in a review that Jenkins himself shared on Facebook.
At its 15th anniversary, Dallas Jenkinsâ âWhat IfâŚâ remains a top faith-based film, critic Joseph Holmes writes. (Screenshot via Facebook)
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.