As I was watching the members of our football team in their scrimmage on Saturday morning, I remembered a voicemail message, received a few weeks ago by Martin Newton, our Athletics Director, which Martin forwarded to me. The message was from a local resident and a former collegiate athlete at another university, and he was calling to offer appreciation to Jake Kingree and Devlin Hodges, two Samford football players, for finding his wallet (with $200 to $300 in it), locating him on Facebook, and returning the lost item to him. He praised Jake and Devlin for “their honesty and integrity,” closing the message by saying, “I’m a Samford fan now!” Before playing their first game of the season, the members of our team are already winners.
The world is better because of Samford’s core values of “integrity, honesty, and justice,” as so often exemplified by our students.