10 Things You May Not Know About Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow has already had more careers and made more headlines than people two or even three times his age. He was the star quarterback for the University of Florida Gators, where he became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos helping them to a series of victories, before heading to the New York Jets. In addition to his accomplishments in the sporting world, Tebow also made headlines for his devout Christian faith which lead to "Tebowing" sweeping the country.

While Tebow has been in the news a lot over the years, here are ten things you may not know about the sports legend.

He was not born in the U.S.

Tebow was born in Makati City in the Philippines to American parents who were serving as Christian Baptist missionaries at the time.

He was homeschooled.

Tebow and his four siblings were homeschooled. Tebow is the first homeschooled athlete to be nominated for the Heisman Trophy. In the hopes of giving other homeschooled student athletes similar opportunities, Alabama passed "The Tim Tebow Bill" to allow homeschooled students the chance to play for their local high school teams just as Tebow did in Florida.

He wrote Bible verses on his eye paint.

During his college football career, Tebow frequently wrote numerical biblical verses on his eye paint. When he wrote "John 3:16" on his eye black during the 2009 BCS Championship Game, the verse became the highest-ranked Google search term over the next 24 hours, generating over 90 million searches.

The NCAA was not impressed, though, and in 2010 passed a new rule for the next NCAA football season, dubbed "The Tebow Rule," banning messages of any kind on eye paint.

He loves Christmas.

"I love Christmas decorations. This is not a joke, and I'm not exaggerating. Today, during my workout, I was listening to Christmas music. I'm a Christmas junkie," he told Barron's. "In my house in Colorado, I had five trees—the one in my room was all white. My home was decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving last year."

He is a superhero.

While a legend among Florida Gators, Tebow was turned into an actual superhero by Marvel Comics. His character was known as "Super Tim" and Marvel.com described him as being "nothing short of a super hero for his team this season, with his clutch performances and last minute comebacks propelling the club on an historic hot streak headed into the NFL postseason."

He is in the dictionary.

"Tebowing," the act of taking a knee during games while holding a clenched fist against his forehead, was officially recognized as a word in the English language by the Global Language Monitor. He also owns the trademark for the word "Tebowing."

Kneeling and praying on the football field has inspired the Internet meme known as "Tebowing." On tebowing.com, you'll see everyone from little kids to kittens kneeling a la Tim.

He had a baseball career.

While Tebow is no longer playing professional football, he is not just sitting on the sidelines. In fact, he started a new career as a baseball player, signing with a New York minor league team, the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies, at age 30. He would use his football nest egg to take care of his teammates, upgrading their meals and buying equipment.

His baseball career spanned five years with a contract for the New York Mets. He joined the Arizona Fall League in 2016, and the Mets invited him to their major league training camp in 2019 as an outfielder. He retired in 2021.

He has his childhood Bible.

"I'm a nostalgic person, and the tattered Bible I used as a child means a lot to me," he told Barron's. "It has so many notes scribbled in between the pages—notes from sermons, memories. I probably got it in fifth or sixth grade and used it through college."

He is an author.

There's This Is the Day, Mission Possible, Shaken, the memoir Through My Eyes, as well as children's books.

He has a charitable foundation.

In addition to his work on the field and on-air as a commentator for ESPN, he has his own Tim Tebow Foundation, which aims to "bring faith, hope, and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need," according to its mission statement.