How Former Jaguars DL John Chick Found His Purpose After Football

There are no shortage of accomplishments on John Chick's athletic resume.

Productive college football player with 12.5 sacks in his senior year? Check. 

NFL defensive lineman for the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars? Check.

Two-time Grey Cup Champion and a Canadian Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award? Check.

But it wasn't the mountains Chick climbed in professional football that became his why. It wasn't winning the CFL's Super Bowl. It wasn't 69.5 career sacks in the CFL. And it wasn't the two years he spent with the Jaguars. 

"And yeah, there's excitement and climaxes and all those kinds of things in sports and that pursuit, but it never is fulfilling. Even when you win the big game, you know, which I got to, you know, at the Canadian level, win two of those. And that's awesome. But it's fleeting," Chick told Jaguar Report. 

"And the day after you won, now you've got the bullseye on your back and you got to go do it all again. And it's a kind of an isolating, lonely experience. At least from my perspective."

Instead, Chick found his purpose after football. He found it in his faith and inside prisons across Northeast Florida. 

For almost the last two years, Chick has served as the Director of Prison Ministry for the Diocese of St. Augustine. After a lifetime of competing at the highest levels of football known to any athlete, it is inside the prison ministry where Chick has found what he was truly meant to do. 

"I was actively looking at how I could get more involved in the works of mercy, you know, within the church, and in fact, my family and I were discerning,selling our possessions and joining a family missions group in Peru," Chick said.

"And we're discerning that when the world shut down during the pandemic, and all a sudden, you couldn't serve the poor anymore. And, so with that, we were looking. And we heard an announcement at church that, hey, we're going back into the prisons. So I started honestly, as a volunteer, just going to share my time, and that first experience was ... Oh my goodness. So filled with the Holy Spirit, so enriching. It felt like exactly where I was supposed to be. And it wasn't shortly after that, the person who was director of the prison ministry was having some health issues and needed to step down and so I, though unqualified, put my name in the hat."

Chick never knew this is where he would end up, but his Catholic faith and belief in a greater plan helped lead him to the position he is in today. Chick's program serves 17 counties from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, consisting of 38 major prisons and 17 county jails.

"Our services consist of providing inmates with religious reading materials, cell-front ministry, Mass, reconciliation, bible studies, RCIA and counseling," the program's site reads.

"We also provide Liturgy of the Word and Holy Communion services to groups of inmates, typically in a prison chapel or library, with lay ministers and clergy. We arrange Mass and reconciliation from a priest that is cleared to enter a Department of Corrections (DOC) facility or one of our county jails on regularly scheduled days. Priests or deacons are also available for pastoral visits or spiritual direction for death row, confinement and level 7 maximum security prison inmates or those awaiting trial in our jails."

It is a world far away from professional sports, but one where Chick uses what he learned in his past life to enrich those around him today. As he explained, there are parallels between the serving he does today and the lessons he learned on the gridiron. 

"But, again, that greatest asset being just availability. I have a lot had a lot of football coaches tell me the same thing," Chick said. 

"The greatest ability is your availability. Can you can you stay healthy? Can you be there and be present? Can you be on time? And honestly, that's all it takes is to be a great minister is your availability." 

Chick explains that the work he does goes far outside serving those who are incarcerated. The ministry also places an emphasis on healing with families and victims; as Chick says, "Not only is it them, but when they're in prison, their whole family is in prison."

But to Chick, one of the biggest aspects of what he does today is helping those inside prison simply feel human again. Through faith and simple acts of volunteering, Chick looks to set an example that he believes will have a long-term impact on those in the ministry. 

"The biggest, fundamental thing that we do is help restore human dignity," Chick said. "And that is that you were created in the image and likeness of God. And so going in there and giving of our time is the biggest and most, the greatest example of displaying that we see them as equal as beloved sons and daughters of God.

"And when they can start to see that and believe that in themselves, but also are open, -- as most of these men are -- asking, seeking and knowing they are at the lowest that they've been. They're looking, and so to have someone who comes in love. And as an example of their faith, that has a lasting effect. And in men, that leads to transformation. That leads to, 'I want to do this when I get out. I want to help people not go down the same path.' And, you know, most of us on the outside, we were one or two decisions away from following the wrong person in the wrong crowd or at the place somewhere at the wrong time. We could have ended up there just the same."

For Chick, football was a way for him to use the athletic gifts he believed he was blessed with. He led on and off the field and even started training programs after his playing career was over to fill in gaps he believed were missing in the sport.

But for as much as his love for football and competition was and will always be prevalent, it is here where Chick knows he has found his calling. 

"That's where I was always seeking. And even during that time, and, and especially after football, when your sense of mission and impact and purpose seem to be okay, now what? What can I make the greatest impact?" Chick said. 

"And, again, through the grace of God through running sports programs, and I'm training and doing men's development, were trying to re-marry the body, mind and spirit. And treat yourself as a whole unit. And by praying that and practicing that, it led me right to where God wanted me the whole time. And so it's all grace and thanksgiving. And it is so so broad that it also keeps you humble."

Serving his fellow man has become Chick's goal in life. From the days when his father set the example for him as they served in soup kitchens during his youth to today, where Chick has transitioned from former pro football player to leader of one of the most impactful programs found inside prisons today, helping reduce rearrests. 

And through his new purpose, Chick has found a way to give back to a community he has called home since his NFL days. 

"So I mean, it's been a community to us for, even though I played other places, we maintained a home here. So this has been our community and regardless of where we live during our playing career, we always made that our community," Chick said.

"You know, football is something that brings a lot of people together ... And especially inside the prisons, that is one thing that even they have access to. And so to have that community and that common background, and I can't tell you what it means to these men to have someone from who had any amount of success in football, and especially the Jaguars here locally, it just brings a lot of joy and conversation to a lot of these guys, so it's, it is been extremely helpful and fruitful in the ministry as well. Because it is a great icebreaker."