Munoz Cites Multiple Sports Developing His Football Skills

By Bob Temple, Red Line Editorial

Many professional football players will say that their high school football coach was critical to their development as an athlete and as a person.

Anthony Munoz can go back even further than that.

Munoz, the Hall of Fame offensive lineman who played 13 stellar years with the Cincinnati Bengals, goes all the way back to age 6, and to a coach from another sport.

File photo of Anthony Munoz at the 2005 Youth Summit

"When I was 6, I met him in Ontario, Calif., as I was starting my dream of being a pro baseball player," Munoz told the gathering at the annual NFL Youth Football Summit. The event draws high school coaches from every state in the U.S., plus youth football leaders from around the globe each year to Canton, Ohio.

Munoz was referring to Jim Semon, who ran the local Park and Rec baseball program and also the varsity baseball program at the high school Munoz would end up attending.

"Not only was he a man who cared about us as youth," Munoz said. "But the way he was living his life ... would set an example for us to follow."

That example was important to Munoz, whose father was not a part of his life.

"Someone like myself, who grew up without a dad," Munoz said, "when I look at coaches and teachers I see individuals who have an opportunity to have an amazing impact on young people, the way parents should."

Semon's impact on Munoz's life went way beyond helping him to develop as a baseball player.

"I really started to see that this guy was not only a great teacher and a great coach, but he was also a great man," Munoz said. "He was having an impact on me much bigger than just on the athletic field."

Baseball was Munoz's first love, but he was a three-sport athlete, playing basketball and football as well. Munoz said he believes that playing more than one sport helped his development in the sport that would become his focus, football.

"Baseball was my first love even all the way through high school -- until USC recruited me, and at 6-6, 275 pounds, football was probably my future," he laughed. "But if I hadn't played third base at 275 pounds or basketball at 275 and guarding a guy who weighed 150, I truly believe that I would not have been the player I became."

As his pro career unfolded, Munoz never forgot about Semon. The two remain close, Munoz said. Semon and his family traveled to Miami play in Super Bowl XXIII, and was present at his Hall of Fame enshrinement in 1998. Munoz even mentioned Semon in his speech.

"Even though I didn't have a Dad around, I had coaches who taught me life skills," Munoz said. "I didn't have a dad as a role model, but I could look back on some of these other people who had an impact on me for examples of the kind of man I wanted to be."

And Munoz encouraged all of the coaches in attendance to try to have that kind of impact on the young people in their lives.

"I believe each and very one of us as adults has the opportunity to be a positive influence on young people," he said. "It boils down to, are we willing to lay it on the line and take that responsibility to be a role model? A passion of mine is taking young people and encouraging them and building their confidence and showing them you can do it and you can do it right.

"We have a great opportunity to have an impact."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Bob Temple can be reached at btemple@reditorial.com