freshman emmanuel moody plans on being one

cover story
FRESHMAN
EMMANUEL MOODY
PLANS ON BEING
ONE OF THE BEST
RUNNING BACKS TO
COME OUT OF USC.
BUT ALONG THE
WAY HE’LL DO HIS
BEST TO FULFILL
ANOTHER VISION HE
HAD YEARS AGO.
THIS MEANS BEING
A FAITHFUL
FOLLOWER OF
CHRIST AND USING
FOOTBALL TO
SPREAD THE WORD.
> BY CORINA KNOLL
> PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC SUEYOSHI
FIELD
DREAMS
t wasn’t much of a setback — barely a blip during the
post-game, really. The kind of thing that would keep
him out of the last three games of the season, but altogether, nowhere near career-ending.
But it redefined him. Refocused him. And so,
Emmanuel Moody thinks what happened at the Oregon
game was divine intervention.
With less than two minutes left in the first quarter,
University of Southern California quarterback John
David Booty had slipped him the ball, and Emmanuel
tucked it safely into the crook of his left arm. He
charged through the hole until a 300-pound defender
grabbed his waist and slid into him from behind, catching Emmanuel’s ankle under his body. Emmanuel fell
forward into the body of a defensive back while his left
ankle twisted 45 degrees.
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He heard it pop as he fell to the
ground. And then his head began to buzz.
You’ve forgotten why you came here,
Emmanuel. Teammates hovered and
helped him up. This city and your status
have changed you. He hobbled over to the
bench, gingerly touching his left foot to
the grass. You’re beginning to believe
more in football than him. He traced the
pain that began at his arch and shot up to
the middle of his shin. Well, let this be your
wake-up call. They carted him into the
locker room for X-rays. Remember your
promise, your vision? The early diagnosis
was probable torn ligaments. Remember
how much he loves you?
The next day, Emmanuel, on crutches,
took himself to church.
***
Emmanuel says he was saved at a
church retreat in Houston. The youth
group of the Korean Central United
“HE’D MAKE MOVES
THAT JUST WOULD
MAKE COACHES ON
BOTH SIDES OPEN
THEIR MOUTHS AND
GO, ‘WOW!’ AS FAR
AS CHANGING DIRECTIONS, HE’S ONE OF
THE QUICKEST GUYS
I’VE EVER SEEN.”
— COPPELL HIGH HEAD COACH
MIKE FULLER
“HE CAME IN WITH A
LARGE GROUP OF
FRESHMAN RUNNING
BACKS AND WAS
READY TO COMPETE
FROM DAY ONE. HE
HASN’T BACKED
DOWN A BIT.”
— USC HEAD COACH
PETE CARROLL
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Methodist Church was gathering for one
of its weekends of worship service, skits
and team-building activities.
“Emmanuel came to most of our
retreats,” recalls his youth pastor, Ray
Park. “I could really tell he was very serious and very devoted in worshipping.”
This particular retreat was different.
One minute Emmanuel was praying, the
next he was believing in a way he never
had. His devout mother had instilled
strong Christian values in him, but this
was new.
“The Holy Spirit just activated something in my heart, and he really gave me
the passion to glorify his name and live
out a Christian life.”
It was about the same time Emmanuel
was getting notice for running like hell on
the football field. All those training sessions with his uncle — cone drills, 100yard sprints, fake left, cut right, start over,
do it again — seemed to be showing up to
play. He had a ways to go, but the kid from
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Coppell, Texas, began to sense that he
might actually have a shot at the only
dream he’d ever had.
But embracing God in his life changed
things. And playing professional football
suddenly didn’t seem like the only thing
out there.
Then, the vision came: He’d use football to spread the word. He’d be so good
that no one could ignore him. And if he
was really good, they’d want to listen, no
matter what he was preaching.With every
zigzag he made across the field, he’d gain
more followers; with every dart into the
end zone, a few more willing to believe.
Maybe even enough for a congregation.
The vision comforted Emmanuel. It
was as if the two halves of his heart had
clicked into place. Football. God. Football
and God. God and football. Emmanuel
began to feel something a kid with a
black father and a Korean mother had
been told he’d never be: whole.
“Now I know I have a purpose in life,”
he says. “My purpose is to really glorify
his name and really serve him. Not just
live day to day.”
He’s found himself at the other end of
the spectrum. Far from the days when he
was classified as a hyperactive, angry kid,
willing to duke it out with anyone. It was a
competition thing, a show of toughness in
a predominantly black and Latino public
school where classmates taunted those
with “chinky” eyes. At home he had trouble sitting still, terrorized his sister and
wasn’t one for following any sort of rules.
He was a third grader when his friend
Conterio Guster introduced him to Pop
Warner football. With the help of some
donated pads, Emmanuel played cornerback for the team and came home with a
headache and cuts on his body. He hated
it, but the boy known for challenging
those around him to a fight, a race — anything — stood his ground.
The next year, in one of the last games
of the season, Emmanuel was switched to
offense and told to run the ball. His coach
gaped as he scored four touchdowns — in
the first half.
“It was like he was playing games with
those kids,” recalls Emmanuel’s brother
Eugene, 25,“and none of those kids could
hang. It was no competition.”
For Emmanuel, hostility and aggression had found a home.
“I just loved running, juking out people, just sprinting,” he says. “Football just
provided a place to take my anger out. It’s
helped build my character and given me
a strong mindset.”
The new pastime required all of his
attention and dedication, and he escaped
falling into the illegal extracurriculars of
his friends. A handful of years later, when
he found God, the anger dissipated completely. Now Emmanuel finds himself talking football and religion, not football as a
religion, as Texans are inclined to do.
He could, of course, forgo football
entirely. Leave the time-consuming prac-
GAME PHOTOS COURTESY OF USC
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tices and weight training to make more
time for evangelism.
But Emmanuel says the sport is the
vessel to the goal. Besides, football saved
him first.
***
She named him “Emmanuel” because
it made her feel safe. Her father had just
died from a stroke, her diabetic mother
was in the hospital because of high blood
“HE’S DISCIPLINING
ME. MY MINDSET
HAS BEEN DISTRACTED
BY A WHOLE BUNCH
OF THINGS. HE’S
JUST TRYING TO GET
ME ON THE RIGHT
TRACK BECAUSE MY
LIFE RIGHT NOW
ISN’T REALLY TOTALLY
ABOUT HONORING
AND GLORIFYING HIS
NAME. AND THAT’S
THE REASON I’M
HERE.”
— Emmanuel, on his injury
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sugar, and she was battling lymphoma.
Seeking comfort in the Bible, the name
leaped out at Young Sun. It meant “God is
with us.” Fitting for what she believed was
a miracle baby. Emmanuel was born Feb.
21, 1987 — five years after she had undergone tubal ligation. And then three years
after Emmanuel’s birth, the lymphoma
was gone.
Young Sun and Eugene Moody already
had two children, Eugene, Jr. and Angela,
and were living in Heidelburg, Germany.
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American workforce was as an employee
of a doughnut shop. The owners were
good to her, and she pinched her paychecks. After four months she pooled the
remaining money her Tampa friends had
given her and convinced the local dry
cleaner to sell the business for a $2,000
down payment and accept the rest later.
She proudly named it Smile Cleaners and
thought she could get what had been a
dying storefront up and thriving.
“My mom would be out the door early
PHOTO COURTESY OF EMMANUEL MOODY
The death of Young Sun’s father had
added two more members to the family:
her mother, Han Soon, and brother Inho.
When Eugene, Sr. left the Army, the entire
family moved to St. Petersburg, Fla.
The couple divorced a few years later.
By that time they were living in Tampa,
and Young Sun had never held down a job
since she left Korea. While she had
dreamed of becoming an engineer or an
architect, and once worked as a drafter for
Samsung in Seoul, she wasn’t qualified for
The Moodys went to great lengths to help get Emmanuel to where he is now. Here they surround the youngest family
member (third from left) at his graduation from Coppell High School last May. Pictured from left to right are Emmanuel’s
mother, Young Sun, grandmother Han Soon, sister Angela, uncle Inho and brother Eugene.
much in America. She had devoted all of
her time to her family, volunteering at
church and taking theology courses at the
local college.
She decided to head for Texas, where
a good friend had immigrated.
“When I left Tampa, I have so many
pastor friends,” says Young Sun, 46. “They
gave me some money so I can take care of
all the family.” So, in 1990, a single mother
moved her three kids, mother and brother
into a two-bedroom apartment in the
working-class area of Irving.
“It was Section 8-type [low-income
housing],” recalls her eldest, Eugene.
“When things got a little better, we moved
into a three-bedroom apartment in the
same apartment community. But for the
longest time, we lived in that two-bedroom apartment.”
Young Sun’s first official foray into the
in the morning, and she’d be back home
really late,” says Eugene.“It’d be like a 12hour day for her almost every single day,
except Sunday.” But the long hours gave
little in return. A few years later she quit
the dry cleaner for a coin laundry and
later a convenience store, neither of which
were very profitable. Public assistance
helped a little, but not much. Trips to WalMart were considered a treat, and the family knew to be frugal with every dollar.
Eugene worked during high school
and college, while on scholarship at Texas
A&M. At 15 years old, Angela got a parttime job and, without her mother ever
asking, began turning over half of each
paycheck to the household. When she
graduated high school she attended the
University of Texas at Arlington, then
dropped out for a data-entry job. Eugene
left A&M to work full-time as well.
Eventually, after a couple promotions,
Angela felt her job was stable enough to
buy a three-bedroom house in nearby
Coppell.
The move put Emmanuel into a better
high school. He got his own room in the
new house, while everyone else shared.
Uncle Inho made sure his youngest
nephew had designer clothes and spending money. Eugene passed down his car.
They wouldn’t allow Emmanuel to take a
job. “You focus on football,” they said.
See, baby brother had shared his
vision with the family, and they believed
in it. After all, it was Emmanuel who
attended school and church regularly,
who had transformed himself into someone who barely needed parenting. It was
Emmanuel who shook his head at the mistakes of his siblings, steered clear of parties and alcohol, and whose overheard
prayers made his big brother wish he had
the same conviction. It was Emmanuel
who logged hours on the field all in the
name of God.
And while sometimes it didn’t seem
fair that Angela and Eugene weren’t given
the same guidance or opportunities, and
they felt their own aspirations fade away,
they saw Emmanuel as the future.
Emmanuel, however, didn’t always
understand his role. Sometimes he felt he
had no say in matters because he wasn’t
contributing financially. Once he yelled at
Angela to stop telling him what to do. He
didn’t want to owe her anything, and he
told her to take back everything she’d
ever bought him. Angela said that would
mean he’d be out of a house. Emmanuel
had never known that it was Angela who
signed the mortgage at just 19 years old.
“Well then take it all,” Emmanuel said,
finally. “I don’t care about money.”
“You think it’s about money?” Angela
asked, her voice shaking. “It’s not. It’s
about my time. I spent 40 hours to buy you
that computer. How many hours have you
put in for me?”
She walked downstairs in tears.
Moments later Emmanuel appeared.
He was quiet. He said he was sorry and
that he loved her.
It was a little awkward. The Moody siblings weren’t the sentimental type.
Expressing emotion was considered
weak. But the two hugged.
For the sister who had partied maybe a
bit too much, who completed only one
semester of college, who wasn’t as pious
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or as disciplined as her kid brother, it
marked the first time in her life when she
felt Emmanuel looked up to her.
For Emmanuel, it made him want to
use football for one more thing: to someday provide for his family.
***
“THE HOLY SPIRIT
JUST ACTIVATED
SOMETHING IN
MY HEART AND HE
REALLY GAVE ME
THE PASSION TO
GLORIFY HIS NAME
AND LIVE OUT A
CHRISTIAN LIFE.”
— Emmanuel Moody
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“He’s disciplining me,” the 19-year-old
says. “My mind-set has been distracted
by a whole bunch of things. He’s just trying to get me on the right track because
my life right now isn’t really totally about
honoring and glorifying his name. And
that’s the reason I’m here.”
Emmanuel is sitting at a table on the
lush USC campus. It’s the day after that
Oregon defenseman landed on him, and
the vulnerability of an athletic career has
reared its ugly head. But he’s thanking God.
With the sweet grin of a schoolboy and a
hint of Texas lilt in his speech, he explains
how the bulky, black brace on his left ankle
represents a twist of necessary fate.
“It’s really going to show me how to
work even harder,” he says. “Handing me
a punishment like this has really shown
me that he loves me that much to make
something severe happen.”
The paradox is spoken a few feet from
Heritage Hall, where Heisman Trophies
stand proudly inside glass cases. On the
second floor are the busts of legendary
running back Ricky Bell and famed quarterback Morley Drury, and between the
north and south wings hang the jerseys of
Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart
and Reggie Bush.
If you’re a fan of USC football, the
school is an illustrious powerhouse. If
you’re a hater, it’s the evil empire.
And now the team is in one of its greatest eras yet, under the guidance of the artful Pete Carroll. Last year’s Pacific-10
coach of the year, Carroll claimed a BCS
national championship in 2004 and has
led USC to the No. 1 spot of its conference
for the last four years.
When Carroll’s recruiting crew came
knocking on the Moodys’ door, Emmanuel
had already made a verbal commitment
to the University of Texas and built a relationship with its coaches. The home-turf
school had showed him love since his
junior year. Back then, Emmanuel was the
fifth-ranked running back recruit in the
nation, said to be able to bench press 350
and run 40 yards in 4.41 seconds. But what
colleges were really after were those lateral dances with the ball that had defensive lines tripping over their own two feet.
“He’d make moves that just would
make coaches on both sides open their
mouths and go, ‘Wow!’” remembers
Coppell High head coach Mike Fuller.“As
far as changing directions, he’s one of the
quickest guys I’ve ever seen.”
For that, Emmanuel thanks his uncle,
Michael Inho Chang, a 27-year-old selfdescribed “tall, skinny Korean guy” who
never played football. Living with his sister after their father passed away, Inho
wasn’t much older than Angela and
Eugene. But being eight years
Emmanuel’s senior brought out a paternal
side in him. Training became their thing,
with Inho setting up the drills and
instructing Emmanuel to do two more
laps, another sprint, just one more time
through the cones. Even when he moved
out of the house five years ago, he called
Emmanuel every day to discuss things
like proper diet, a weightlifting regimen
and what cleats to wear.
It was something that maybe a zealous
father would have done. But Eugene, Sr. hadn’t kept in much contact with his children
since they moved away.And Inho knew what
it was like to grow up without a dad.
“When I was younger I didn’t have all
the things I needed,” he explains. “I tried
to supply Emmanuel with everything.”
Sometimes that came across as being
a little too pushy. He ruffled a few coaches’ feathers by voicing opinions on how
Emmanuel should be utilized. Inho
describes it as a form of brotherly love. It
was he, in fact, who encouraged
Emmanuel to seek out a smaller school
where he might be able to relax a bit and
not feel the constant pressure of losing his
place on the depth chart.
But when USC flew Emmanuel out to
Los Angeles the September of his senior
year, the school’s winning history and the
mild weather won out. “I saw the palm
trees and I was like, that’ll do it,” says
Emmanuel.
That first night he went to dinner with
running back alumnus Reggie Bush — the
2005 Heisman winner now playing for the
New Orleans Saints.
It was the usual recruiting tactic, but all
Bush said was, “Just do your thing. Carry
on the tradition.”
Emmanuel liked that idea. He took it as
a challenge, especially at a school referred
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caught up in the excitement of Los
Angeles, of being a recognized athlete,
and maybe made more time for Division 1
football and its perks rather than quiet
time with the Almighty. He let his own love
for the game take over the vision.
But the Oregon game reminded him of
God’s love.
“If he wasn’t showing me his love, then
he would let me live the life I want to live,”
he explains.“That means he wouldn’t care.”
So, while Emmanuel’s disappointed
that USC just missed making the BCS
national title game, he’s been prompted to
remember not to take any of it for granted. And that he’s still got a platform for
Providence.
***
to as “Tailback U” for its history of producing NFL-caliber running backs. He asked
God what to do. Just before playing in the
All-American Bowl last January, he
announced he was headed for Trojan town.
In his very first game, he scored a
touchdown, and two games later, scored
another. He even started several times.
Despite sitting out for nearly four games,
he ended the season having rushed for 459
yards, second only to Chauncey
Washington, the redshirt junior who has
been the team’s primary No. 1 option.
According to Carroll, Emmanuel proved to
be everything the coaches thought he
would be.
“He came in with a large group of
freshman running backs and was ready to
compete from day one,” says Carroll, less
than two weeks before USC takes on
Michigan in the Rose Bowl. “He hasn’t
backed down a bit.”
It was a freshman season to be proud
of, although Emmanuel thinks he got too
There is already proof that it can happen. Emmanuel saw it back in Coppell
when he was a local star athlete, how people came up to him whenever he was out
in public. How kids would suddenly quiet
if he started talking. He got their attention
before he even said the good stuff —
about the power of prayer and the Bible.
And friends who knew him as a troubled
kid always ask the new humble and successful version of Emmanuel what
changed him.
“I just say God. That’s what God does.”
He watches how they drink this statement thoughtfully, their faces slowly comprehending. And he becomes the parable
that he preaches.
If one day football fame is no longer
the gateway to spreading the Gospel, he
says another path will appear. And he’ll
find a way to give back to his family even
if he doesn’t make the NFL. He’ll start by
being the first to graduate from college.
The good Lord hasn’t let him down so
far. He’s seen the results in the way the
dots of his life have begun to connect. The
most recent example is his father. During
a rare phone conversation, Emmanuel
invited Eugene, Sr. out to the USCNebraska game. It had been nearly 10
years since the two last saw each other.
He thinks his father’s timing in reaching out to him is dubious, but Emmanuel
says he’s trying not to be bitter. If football
brings them closer together, it’ll be another manifestation of that vision. If it doesn’t
turn out, well, that’s God’s will.
Anyway, Emmanuel’s already seen how
football has made him his Father’s son.
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