M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Todd Christensen: Raider in the Booth
by Kelly L. Martinez

In the mid-60s, a 9-year-old boy hoisted a shot put and hurled a discus farther than any of his peers at a youth track and field event. He set world records for his age group that have stood to this day. Surely, this boy was destined for the Olympics; certainly his name would eventually be etched in the record books of the all-time great shot putters and discus throwers. Indeed, his name became a name that was well-known in the sporting world; he even went on to be a part of a Summer Olympiad. However, neither of those accomplishments came in the way you might imagine.

Fast Forward
During the 70s, a star running back on the BYU football team saw Elder Gordon B. Hinckley remove his tie and settle in for a nap on a long team trip to Japan. With the bravado of youth, the running back made an off-handed comment: “Hey, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a General Authority without a tie!” Elder Hinckley gave a good-natured laugh and a smile.

Wise-cracking an apostle may not seem too offensive to some, but to Todd Christensen, ESPN football analyst and former NFL All-Pro, it is an experience recalled with a sense of embarrassment. “I can’t believe I said that to him,” said Christensen. “I’m glad we won’t be judged solely on the actions of the first 20 years of our lives.”

Comparative Assessment
According to Christensen, preparing to play a football game is more difficult than preparing to broadcast one. “Years ago, when I was in college,” he recalled, “a scout from New England contacted me and I told him about my bench press and I told him about all that was going well with my game. He told me, ‘That’s all great, but the films don’t lie.’ I’ve never forgotten that. In television, they can lie. You can put people there that aren’t necessarily good at it and they can fake their way through. You cannot fake your way through the playing of a football game.”

Christensen, who lives in Alpine, Utah, has “faked” his way to his 13th year of broadcasting – two longer than his storied pro football career. He began broadcasting with NBC in 1990 and joined ESPN in 1995. During his broadcasting career, he has been a field reporter for Super Bowls XXVII (1993) and XXVIII (1994) and was a weightlifting analyst for NBC at the Barcelona Summer Games in 1992.

Full Circle Beginnings
Christensen was born in Pennsylvania while his father was working on a doctorate degree at Penn State University. After teaching in West Virginia, his father was offered a professorship in Eugene, Ore., when Todd was 5 and the family relocated.

Athletically, Christensen’s early desire was to continue excelling in track and field as he had when he set the world records as a 9-year-old boy. “Puberty and adolescence helped me realize that I was not as fast as I had thought,” he recalled. “My body went a different direction and that was when I started leaning towards football.”

Football has been the conduit to most of Christensen’s athletic accomplishments, but like a wayward son returning home, he has made a full circle and, at 46, has returned to competitive track and field. In 2001, he began competing on the adult track and field circuit. In March 2002, he captured the 45-49 age group indoor pentathlon in Chicago, setting a world age group record in the process. In July 2002, he competed, and won, the National Masters Decathlon Championships in Trenton, N.J. Though he didn’t set a world record at the event, he did nab the title easily.

Gridiron Accomplishments
Christensen’s pro football career spanned 11 seasons. His rookie season in 1978 was spent on the injured reserve list of the Dallas Cowboys. He found himself on the roster of the New York Giants in 1979 and played in one regular season game before joining the Oakland Raiders for the duration of that season and the following nine. Before his retirement after the 1988 season, Christensen compiled some of the most impressive statistics ever posted by a tight end. He led the NFL in total receptions twice (1983, 1986), tallied 5,872 career yards in receiving, caught 52 touchdowns and was a part of Super Bowl teams in 1981 and 1984. Additionally, he was a five-time All-Pro selection. In 461 career receptions, he averaged 12.7 yards per catch.

At BYU, Christensen was a four-year starter (1974-77) at running back, led the team for three consecutive seasons in receiving and was a All-Western Athletic Conference selection in 1977. His career numbers while at BYU: 152 receptions, 1,586 yards and 15 touchdowns. He graduated with a degree in social work in 1978 before embarking on his pro career.

Dinner Table Tennis Impressions
“Like most youngsters steeped in the gospel,” Christensen said, “it is vital to have people in your own home that you respect. My parents, Ned and June, were those people for me. I never needed to look further than across the dinner table for a role model.”

The elder Christensens not only set examples of how to cherish the gospel, but they seem to have passed on the athletic gene to Todd. His father was a competitive athlete, but Todd claims it was his mom that he inherited his athletic prowess from. “Mom was a champion table tennis player when she attended BYU.”

We Are Family
Todd met his wife, the former Kathleen Simmons, briefly at BYU before she went on a semester abroad to Israel. Platonic letters while she was away evolved into more when she returned. “Our first kiss was on July 4, 1976,” he recalled. “Literally, there were fireworks going off in the background that day.” Bicentennial smooching eventually led to marital commitments and four sons.

Toby, a returned missionary (Barcelona, Spain), is currently on the football team at BYU, is scheduled to graduate with a degree in communications in December and will begin a master’s program in public administration soon thereafter.

Tory is also a returned missionary (Portugal) and will graduate from BYU in April 2003. He is taking the Law School Admissions Test next month and is looking into applying to law school at either Duke or Stanford. “Tory is a very smart young man,” said dad. “He’s maintaining a 3.78 GPA. I’m not sure that he’s not adopted.”

Trevor, or T.J., is a freshman at BYU and is contemplating a mission sometime next year.

Teren is a freshman in high school and lifts weights with his dad. “He lifts weights partly because he has the malady spina bifida,” explained Todd. “Part of his regimen is to have his personal trainer father see what he can do. He’s so much stronger than I was at that age. I feel a bit embarrassed by the fact that he is in a wheelchair and can still outlift his dad!”

Raider Recollection
While Todd was a member of the Raiders, he and his wife invited a teammate and his wife, Burgess and Josie Owens, to Thanksgiving dinner. “My wife has this tradition of putting kernels of corn on everyone’s plate prior to eating,” he said. “We have to pick them up and say something that we are grateful for. Also dining with us that night were a couple of elders who asked Burgess and Josie some questions. The Owens were impressed with the experience and the way that we lived our lives. They were baptized on New Year’s Day in 1983.”

Coach Christensen?
Todd has coached many of the teams his sons have been a part of over the years. He has even coached a youngster by the name of Taylor Murphy, son of baseball legend Dale, who, according to Todd, can really smack the ball.

As far as coaching at a higher level, Todd is hesitant to begin a football coaching career so late in life. “I’ve been blessed with a certain loquaciousness which affords me the opportunity to work on television,” he said. “To be honest, working on television is not difficult. Coaching would require a lot more. Coaching is definitely something I think I’m capable of. Quite frankly, after 25 years of playing organized football and broadcasting it for another 12, I should know something about the game. I just don’t know about starting a coaching career at my age. But who knows? I never say never.”

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