Four Baylor University Football Players Were Baptized, Keeping a Tradition That Defines the Program
DJ Lagway, Stilton McKelvey, Daniel Cobbs, and Kaleb Arterberry were baptized at Baylor, keeping a tradition that defines the program. The post Four Baylor University Football Players Were Baptized, Keeping a Tradition That Defines the Program appeared first on The Quintessential Gentleman.
Black News 
Four Baylor University football players made a decision last night that had nothing to do with football. DJ Lagway, Stilton McKelvey, Daniel Cobbs, and Kaleb Arterberry were baptized in a ceremony surrounded by their teammates, coaches, and the Baylor community, publicly declaring their faith and marking a moment that, as the program put it, changed their lives forever.
Baylor Football announced the news on social media Thursday night: “Lives Forever Changed. Last night, DJ Lagway, Stilton McKelvey, Daniel Cobbs, and Kaleb Arterberry publicly declared their faith and were baptized.”
For a program that has made spiritual formation as central to its identity as winning football games, the post landed with the weight of something that happens regularly at Baylor, and never stops mattering.
At Baylor, this is not a one-off moment. It is a tradition. The university’s athletics department operates with an explicit goal of “preparing champions for life”, a phrase that carries spiritual weight alongside athletic ambition.
Every incoming student-athlete receives a personalized Bible. Sport chaplains are embedded across programs. Coaches and trainers are equipped to have faith conversations with the athletes in their care. And throughout the year, baptisms like Wednesday’s are not uncommon.
The ceremony was intimate and direct. Each player was asked two questions before being baptized: whether they believed in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for their salvation, and whether they were publicly committing to follow him. Each answered yes.
The officiant then baptized them one by one, with the words “buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk a new way of life” closing each moment.
Baylor University is one of the largest Baptist universities in the world, and its athletics department takes that identity seriously in practice, not just in mission statements.
The program offers faith-based chapel courses, spiritual retreats, mission trips, and an eight-week discipleship course that has equipped numerous student-athletes with practical training to share the Gospel. The Truett Seminary’s Faith & Sports Institute places fellows directly within the athletics department in chaplaincy and pastoral roles.
The post Four Baylor University Football Players Were Baptized, Keeping a Tradition That Defines the Program appeared first on The Quintessential Gentleman.
