Greeson: Stories of prayers answered on tap for area prayer breakfast

The Chattanooga Area Prayer Breakfast is an annual treat: The fellowship and the foundation are first rate; the purpose of the event is clear to anyone who has attended it.

This year's speaker is Sherman Smith, a former NFL running back, college and NFL assistant coach and a Super Bowl winner as the running backs coach of the Seattle Seahawks after the 2014 season.

Smith gave his life to football and his players. He was a father to a growing number of them during his career that started at a Washington state high school in 1984 and ended with the Seahawks - the team that drafted him in 1976 - in 2017.

He spent a long time with the Tennessee Titans and Houston Oilers.

It's fair to view Smith as a player's coach, he said. "I always wanted to make a positive impact on their lives."

One of his former players who followed in his footsteps both in playing and coaching was Deland McCullough, a former Ohio high school student who Smith recruited and coached at Miami (Ohio) University.

"It was just something about his personality," McCullough told ESPN the Magazine's Sarah Spain about meeting Smith, who pulled up in a red Mercedes with all the bells and whistles. "The way he presented himself. He had things that I hadn't seen out of a man or mentor. He was on top of his details. He was successful. He had played in the NFL. He got his degree. I wasn't around that type of person.

"The Mercedes was nice, too, you know?" he laughed. "That was slick."

Also in the ESPN story, Adelle Comer, McCullough's adopted mother who took him in when he was less than a year old, said: "Well, Coach Smith was hard not to love. I fell in love with him the first time [I met him]. He was just a gentleman. And he was very attentive and respectful to me."

Smith landed the hotshot recruit and the two clicked - far beyond football.

"I'd tell the players, especially in college, "You may not be looking for a father, but I'm going to treat you like you're my sons,'" Smith said. "I knew I needed to be a positive role model for Deland and try to be what my father was to me."

Smith learned early on that McCullough was adopted. They shared stories and dreams. They shared highlight careers at Miami and battles with injuries.

McCullough, after his playing days were done and he was transitioning to being a coach like Smith, would frequently call for tips and advice, sometimes just to talk.

In 2014, Smith welcomed McCullough to Seattle for a coaching internship, the circle working all the way back around.

In late 2017, McCullough reached out on social media to his birth mother. When he spoke to her for the first time, early in the conversation, according to the ESPN story, he asked who his birth father was.

Jay Greeson

McCullough's birth mother had only told three people until that moment. Among those she did not tell was the father - Sherman Smith.

Yes, that Sherman Smith - the man who was his mentor, his coach in football and in life - his role model and sounding board. His father figure was his father even though neither knew it.

"When Deland called and told me, I paused and told him I needed to call him back because I could not process what I had heard," Smith said over the phone Wednesday.

Smith never knew about the pregnancy. McCullough's mom and Smith dated in high school, and she made the decision to keep her child, put him up for adoption and not tell Smith.

This is not about decisions made by teenagers a lifetime ago as much as it's the perspective and results of the clarity of hindsight.

"It was definitely the longest pause of my life," Smith said about the first call. "Before I called Deland back, I thought about the choices I had made.

"I knew I didn't know about [the pregnancy] but that did not change the feelings."

Since connecting - or reconnecting, maybe - the relationship between Smith and McCullough has only grown.

Smith's story is almost too far-fetched for a Hollywood script. It's almost too powerful to be believed.

But, as Smith reminded me, when we plan, God laughs.

"Oh, it's definitely a God thing; there's no other way to describe it," Smith said.

And when asked about his new relationship with his friend, his former player, his pupil and now his son, he offered this:

"We have built on [the relationship] and made it better," Smith said. "The biggest difference is he calls me Dad rather than Coach now."

He relishes both jobs, but Smith - who readily admits his father was his hero - knows which one answered his son's prayers.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.