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Posted on 10/10/2001 8:18:35 AM PDT by Kryptonite

A Changed Man

Gbaja-Biamila credits new faith for success
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM of the Journal Sentinel staff

Green Bay - Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila knows that many will be skeptical of what he has to say. He's seen enough reporters rolling their eyes at his message to realize that his assertion might be hard for some to swallow. He understands that many, turned off by some athletes' constant expressions of religion and faith to explain athletic triumph, by now are inoculated to such claims.

He knows all of this. And he doesn't care.

"You ask me a question, I give you the answer," Gbaja-Biamila said. "It's the truth. I can't make this up."

The truth, according to Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, whose name is pronounced kah-BEER BAH-jah BEE-ah-MIL-lah, is this:

His transformation from a defensive end that the Green Bay Packers couldn't fit onto their roster last year into a sack machine over the first four games this season is due to his conversion last year from Islam to Christianity.

Gbaja-Biamila said he means this in the abstract sense of playing better because he feels more complete spiritually and is inspired by his faith in Jesus. However, Gbaja-Biamila also believes the conversion has helped him in a more literal and direct way, that God is using him to spread his message.

With each sack that he collects - he has nine through four games - more and more people are starting to ask Gbaja-Biamila about his remarkable rise. Each time, without fail, he explains that it isn't him at all, but rather the work of God.

Engage him in a debate about the role of religion in sport, and Gbaja-Biamila, polite and sincere and animated as always, holds his ground.

Why, Gbaja-Biamila is asked, why would God care about football? Why would He directly affect how many sacks Gbaja-Biamila gets when there are so many more important things He could concern himself with? God can't possibly care about what is, after all the trappings are removed, just a game.

"People who say that obviously haven't read the Bible," Gbaja-Biamila said. "God cares about every aspect of your life. I'm talking everything from your love life to taking a dump in the toilet. He's like a father. He cares about every aspect."

Gbaja-Biamila is steadfast in his belief that God is the reason he is, to date, Green Bay's best playmaker on defense. There are, however, some more conventional ways to explain his rise.

The Packers drafted him in the fifth round of the 2000 draft because, like many teams, they liked his rare quickness off the line. He immediately showed he was a hard worker, but he was undersized at about 240 pounds and without a necessary was often manhandled.

The Packers released Gbaja-Biamila on the final cut - any team in the league could have had the current league leader in sacks for peanuts just last year - then re-signed him to the practice squad two days later. The Packers signed him to the active roster in October, and Gbaja-Biamila had 11/2 sacks in limited playing time in seven games.

When Gbaja-Biamila returned for minicamps in the spring, it was apparent that he was a more sophisticated pass rusher. The improvement continued through training camp, when Gbaja-Biamila would stay after practice every day for extra work with line coach Jethro Franklin. More and more, Gbaja-Biamila showed flashes of being an effective pass rusher.

But nobody could have expected this. Tying the NFL record for sacks through the first four games? Collecting those sacks despite playing part time? Making respectable tackles look just plain silly trying to block him?

All of this was shocking to most observers. But not, of course, to Gbaja-Biamila. "It just shows me that God is good," Gbaja-Biamila said. "I'm going to continue saying that: God is great."

It was around the time that the Packers cut him last year that Gbaja-Biamila says he started to examine his spirituality. From all outward appearances, Gbaja-Biamila was refreshingly earnest, engaging, and genuine when he arrived in Green Bay, the kind of person most would respect.

However, Gbaja-Biamila said he really was a wicked person, in part because, he said, he was having pre-marital sex with two women. Gbaja-Biamila said he had material things but felt empty inside. "I did it my way for 23 years; it brought me nothing," he said. "I was depressed, I was sad, I was trying to find my happiness in football, in people."

The process of his religious conversion began for Gbaja-Biamila when he met Gill Byrd, the former director of player programs for the Packers and a devout Christian. As part of his duties, Byrd, a former NFL player, helped Gbaja-Biamila settle into his new surroundings. Gbaja-Biamila said he saw the way Byrd was sincere in his beliefs and treated his family well. "I was seeing this stuff, and people think he's cool, and I was like, 'This is who I want to be like,' " Gbaja-Biamila said.

Gbaja-Biamila's parents were born in Nigeria but moved to Compton (Calif.) before he was born, and he was raised in his father's faith, which he says taught that Christianity was full of contradictions. One day last season, Gbaja-Biamila was in Byrd's office when a friend of Byrd's came in and started talking about religion.

Gbaja-Biamila said he challenged some principals of Christianity to the man, who answered his questions like no one had been able to before. Gbaja-Biamila considers that day, Sept. 26, 2000, to be when he converted to Christianity. He doesn't remember the man's name. "He came in one day and then left," Gbaja-Biamila said. "He was like an angel."

Since then, Gbaja-Biamila said he has dedicated himself to trying to live like Jesus and has found an inner peace that he lacked before. He is getting married on Friday. Everything in his life is in order.

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