That Tony Dungy has proven to be a good and decent human being is not breaking news.
But his latest foray into the community stemmed from a simple act of honesty.
In February, Dungy backed into a car in a church parking lot. He left a note on the windshield, since the driver wasn’t around.
“I scraped your car backing in. So Sorry. Please call me if we don’t see you after church,” the note said, with his name and phone number attached.
Lori Farmer, the owner of the red Mazda, thought somebody was messing with her.
“I didn’t see anything,” she said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “All the dings kind of blended together.”
Dungy insisted on paying for any damages, and she insisted she didn’t see any, so they came up with a compromise, that he would visit Pride Elementary, where she taught.
He came by Thursday, and talked to a group of third-, fourth- and fifth- graders about the importance of education, and being themselves, posing for pictures with anyone who wanted one.
“He has proven that he has great character and integrity,” Pride principal Cindy Land said. “He . . . kept his word. This is precisely what our students need to learn from in our community.”
Both of Dungy’s parents were teachers, and he said the visit was a small price to pay in lieu of body work.
“It was a win-win situation for me,” he said. “It was something I knew I would enjoy and also help them out.
“I understand how getting people in to help the teacher in the school day is really important. It was fun doing it. I’m sorry I had to run into her car to facilitate it.”
There’s no word whether the church is now auctioning off parking places next to Dungy as a fundraiser.
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Dungy is a better man than he is a football coach, and that’s saying something.
Great all around human being. He should be an inspirations not just to athletes but Christians and all faiths that practice love & humility in this world. Class act Mr. Dungy that’s all I can say.
Class act love Dungy
The NFL needs more Tony Dungys and less Gregg Williamses.
Nice to see some good natured people are still around. Makes you feel less alone in this crazy world.
kudos to Dungy for “walking the talk” when he could have very easily surmised the lack of damage and justified not leaving a note.
But even more credit to the teacher who did not look at it as an opportunity to “cash in” on a famous celebrity, and instead, do something memorable for her students and school.
Now if we could only get our elected officials to behave so responsibly and selflessly!
If you had $10,000 in cash and you wanted someone to hold it and safeguard it for you for six months while you were out of the country, and therefore wanted to make absolutely certain the cash didn’t fall into untrustworthy hands, who would you choose – Tony Dungy or Roger Goodell?
Yeah, me too.
Thank God for Saints like Tony Dungy and Tim Tebow!
Dungy > Tebow
Tony Dungy=class act
i wouldve drove away it was a junk car anyway
I love hearing how Dungys players would perform on a high level not for fear of being reprimanded if they didn’t but out of fear of letting Dungy down. He has every players respect.
True class act. The speaking to the kids is priceless. I’m inspired right now..