News

NEW YORK CITY, September 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Christian football fans who admired Tim Tebow for his role-model-worthy behavior and openness about his faith might have been disappointed by his departure from the sport, but they may have found something of a replacement in Prince Amukamara.

Amukumara, whose first name is actually a title – his father is a Nigerian village chief, and he is next in line – plays cornerback for the New York Giants, and helped his team win a Super Bowl victory as a rookie player in 2012. 

The openly Christian 24-year-old reveals in the October issue of Muscle and Fitness magazine that not only has he never had a sip of alcohol, he is still a virgin and plans to remain so until he marries his fiancée, Pilar Davis, early next year.  He credits his abstinence from both alcohol and sex to his Catholic upbringing and Christian faith, and jokes that his squeaky-clean personal life combined with his tendency to kneel and pray on the football field has some people calling him “the black Tim Tebow.”

Image

“Tim Tebow famously said that he was a virgin,” asked interviewer Matt Tuthill. “Are you? Are you open to talking about that?”

“Yeah, I am a virgin,” Amukamara answered.  “I’m not ashamed to say that.”

“I grew up Catholic,” Amukamara said, “so it just started out as one of those things.  I’d think, ‘If I do this, maybe I can get to heaven,’ so I said no drinks, no sex, all the big things. As I grew up, I realized that’s not what it’s about. It’s about having a relationship with Jesus. It’s not about ‘Don’t do this. Don’t do that.’  But still, it’s just one of those things I haven’t done, and I don’t see any benefit to doing it.”

Amukamara told Tuthill he thinks it’s just easier to avoid temptation than to deal with the potential consequences.  “You’re always reading about people getting DUIs,” he said. “So many bad things that happen and wind up in the paper are alcohol-related, so by not drinking, it saves me, my team, and my family a lot of trouble.”

“(I)f you don’t drink and don’t have sex,” Tuthill asked him, “how do you blow off some steam?”

Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!

“I still enjoy going out,” Amukamara said. “I still enjoy dancing, and I get high off of everyone else’s high. If everyone is having a good time, that makes me have more fun, even though I don’t need everyone to be happy for me to be happy, if that makes sense.” 

Amukamara met his fiancée at a dance club after defeating the Green Bay Packers during the 2012 playoffs. 

“I was just drawn to her,” he told Tuthill.  “She was standing by the counter. I said, ‘Are you waiting for someone?’ And she said, ‘Yeah.’  So I didn’t know what else to say after that so I started walking away.”

It might have ended there, had it not been for his teammates, who “made me go back,” Amukamara said. “They were like, ‘Go say something to her!’ And they were cheering me on. She thought we were all rowdy and drunk and she didn’t pay us any attention. Then, later, I was waiting for Ahmad and she came by and we struck up a conversation. I asked her for her e-mail address because when someone asks for your number, it might be too personal and you might not want to give it. But if you ask for their e-mail address, they’ll give it. I was right.”

Amukamara said he told Davis he might have his first taste of alcohol at his upcoming bachelor party, but hasn’t really decided yet.

So how do Amukamara’s teammates feel about his tee-totaling, chaste behavior? 

“When I first heard it, I was like, ‘Wow,’” cornerback Jayron Hosley told the New York Post.  “But everyone comes from different places. Nobody’s the same. … He’s doing it for a reason, for something that he believes in, that he feels is right for him. I respect that.”

Added Hosley, “There’s more guys out there like that than you think.  Negative publicity seems to get the headlines, but there’s a lot of good guys out here doing a lot of great things.”

Safety Ryan Mundy told the Post, “It’s definitely a window into the type of person that he is and what he believes in and how it helped him get this far.”

Added cornerback Aaron Ross: “He’s raised a little different from most defensive backs, but that’s what makes him special. He’s like the little brother in the room.”

But it seems Amukamara’s commitment to sexual purity may make him a target for promiscuous women looking for a challenge.  A number of young women in New York City’s Times Square told the New York Post what they would do to claim Amukamara’s virginity. 

But any girl hoping to knock Amukamara off the straight and narrow will have her work cut out for her.  Amukamara says that to him, being a faithful Christian is more thrilling an adventure than even his Super Bowl win. 

“[Super Bowl XLVI] was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life,” Amukamara told Beliefnet last year. “It was amazing to be a part of that. But the feeling of winning the Super Bowl went away pretty quickly. I don’t think about it much unless people remind me. I know that I’m a Christian every day of my life.”

Added Amukamara, “Being a part of the Body of Christ is eternal. That’s forever. Winning the Super Bowl is big too. No one can take that from me. But to be a Christian, that’s a daily thing and that’s what I think about the most.”