A Man Large in Stature
By Shane Hales

Over the past six years, you may have noticed former BYU student John Tait hard at work in your living room. But then again, maybe you haven’t. It might be hard to believe that you could overlook someone measuring a colossal 6’6’’ and buckling the scales at 315 pounds — unless you know that he happens to specialize in going unnoticed.

As an offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears, John is also an expert in pushing, pummeling, and pounding people into the ground, though you’re more likely to focus on the quarterback lurking behind him or the tailback slashing through the hole he just created. If you watch him closely, wielding his tremendous size and explosive strength as the tools of his trade, you’ll come to realize that John happens to be better at his job than just about everyone else on the planet.

John grew up in Tempe, Arizona in a family of seven children. He was always the tallest kid in the class and enjoyed playing all kinds of sports. Football was a natural choice for John because of his size. In high school he made the varsity team as a sophomore, was a three-year letterman and two-time all-state performer on offense and defense. After his senior year, John was recruited by several top college football programs including Arizona State, UCLA, Colorado, Texas, and BYU. 

“I always had a goal of going on a mission,” says John.  “I thought that only BYU would hold my scholarship for me if I chose to leave for two years, but just about every school I talked to said that they would do the same, which made the decision a little more difficult. In the end I chose BYU because I knew that it would be the best fit for me socially and they had a great winning tradition with Lavell Edwards.”

After red-shirting his first year at BYU, John set his pads and cleats aside, and spent the next two years sharing his beliefs with the people of the Knoxville Tennessee mission. For those with NFL caliber talent, making the choice to step away from the game for so long, and potentially risking a career in professional football, has proven difficult for some LDS players. But for John, the decision to serve a mission was an easy one.

“It was something that I had planned on doing for a long time,” he said.  “It was a great experience that really helped me grow as a person. And going to Knoxville, Tennessee, was great because everyone there loved football and the fact that I was a player at BYU was a great ice-breaker for a lot of the folks I talked to.”

John returned to BYU upon completing his service, and wasted no time in working his way into the starting lineup his first year back. “Coming off my mission and being a starter was a great accomplishment for me. I don’t think that too many linemen had done that before or since.” 

John was an integral part in the Cougars’ historic season in 1996, where the team racked up 14 victories (the first Division I team in history with more than 13 wins in a season) and defeated Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl to finish fifth in the national rankings. It was a year widely revered among BYU faithful as second only to the 1984 National Championship season.

“To tell you the truth,” says John, in his predictably humble demeanor, “I was just along for the ride that year.  We had so many great players on that team.  I was the young guy and I tried to learn as much from the upper classmen as possible.  And then to go to a New Year’s bowl game and win was really cool.”

John battled in the trenches of BYU’s offensive line for two more seasons, and then after his junior year, determined that the time was right to move on, he declared himself eligible for the NFL draft. “Deciding to leave school early was a tough decision for me,” he remembers.  “I did a lot of thinking and talking to people associated with the NFL to make sure that it was the right move. My time at BYU was great, but to this day I have no regrets about leaving early.”

The Kansas City Chiefs snatched John up in the first round of the draft, making him the first lineman to be selected and the 14^th pick overall in 1999. “Draft day can be a nerve racking experience,” he says, “but I was confident that wherever I ended up was the place I was supposed to be. When Kansas City selected me it was a pretty big rush to hear them say my name on ESPN.”

After playing five years in Kansas City, John felt like it was time to make a change and enter the free agent market. The decision paid off and John signed with the Chicago Bears, after being the most sought after lineman on the market that year.

“Chicago really made a big push for me and I fell in love with the team and the city.  It is such a tradition-rich franchise and great sports town.” 

John balances his love of football with an off-the-field hobby that defies the prevailing (and inaccurate) stereotype of the “dumb lineman” — his obsession with computers and video games. “Yes, I am a gadget freak,” he admits.  “If it has something to do with electronics I am interested in it. I’ve especially become interested in digital filmmaking and editing.  It’s something that, as technology improves, you can use the same tools that the pros use.”

It is no surprise then, that John has become hooked on the latest cyber-trend, called podcasting. “I’m really interested in it.  I love the idea that you can make something, put it on the internet, and have it available to basically the whole world.”

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, which allows users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s), or they can download them from individual websites. Podcasting became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic audio downloading onto portable players, such as the iPod (from which the word “podcast” is derived) or onto personal computers. Podcasts can be created by virtually anyone with a computer and a microphone, which has opened the floodgates for thousands of amateur podcasts. The simplicity of this new process started the wheels turning in John’s mind.

“One day some friends and I were talking about how cool it would be to do a radio show in Utah about stuff we like,” recalls John. “Then I told them about the new podcasting movement and how easy it would be to do something like that.”  

Such was the beginning of John’s most recent endeavor, www.cougarpodcast.com, a new Web site dedicated to podcasts about BYU football.

“As we bounced some ideas around,” he explained, “the conversation eventually turned to one of our favorite subjects, BYU football, and it just snowballed from there.  I think that it will be something that the die-hard BYU fans will enjoy. And I think it’s a cool way to give a little something back to the fans. All the podcasts are free and they can be accessed at anytime of day, not just during a particular timeslot, like a radio show. We hope that our podcast will become interactive with the fans where they can email us and give us input on the show or ask questions.”

John plans on inviting many of his old friends from his days at BYU to participate in selected podcasts. Some are currently in the NFL with John, and some have moved on to other walks of life. In addition, he and his friends at cougarpodcast.com will talk with players and coaches from this year’s team and include their insight on how things are going throughout the season.

John is thrilled about the opportunity to combine his passion for football and his love of technology into one unique project, and he looks forward to seeing how it evolves. “Who knows, maybe this will lead to something after my playing days are over,” he grins. If all his previous efforts are any indication, cougarpodcast.com seems destined for success. But whether you find him on the football field, the internet, or even in your living room, look for John Tait to be head and shoulders above the rest.