(See Trent Toone, Retired Mormon major leaguer experiences uncommon journey, Deseret News, May 2 2013)

His career seemed sparking at Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, where he was named the 1989 Arizona player of the year. According to the Deseret News article, he was also “league batting champion, a two-time all-state selection and his team’s three-time MVP.”

Mormon Mission or Pro Baseball?
Scouts were definitely interested, but there was a problem. Brian Banks is a Mormon and many Mormon teens plan on serving Mormon missions at a young age. At the time, young men could begin serving at age nineteen (the age has since been lowered to eighteen) and they serve for two years. No one wanted to draft someone who was going to be taking two years off in the very near future.

With so much temptation, Banks struggled with the decisions he needed to make. He used the rationalizations that he could be a missionary in other ways or that his work as a baseball player would allow him to share the gospel to others. And a six-figure offer—that’s hard to turn down at any age. He decided to attend Brigham Young University for a year and see how things progressed.

He turned down a draft pick from the Orioles that included a 100,000 dollar signing bonus, not an easy decision for a teenager. However, he didn’t think he was really ready for a pro career just yet. While at BYU, he was surrounded by people who were grounded in their faith and who were making choices based on things more important than money or fame. He met athletes who had decided to serve missions and some who had decided to forego the mission experience and this allowed him to weigh the options he had. He decided to serve a mission, which is what he’d wanted to do since childhood, following in the footsteps of an older brother. Professional scouts made dire predictions that he would lose his skill by taking two years off. Missionaries have one free day a week and he worked on his pitching with other missionaries on that day. It wasn’t the same thing as training full-time, but it helped.

Brian Banks told Deseret News: ““For me it came down to I needed to serve a mission and I made that decision through what you are taught as a youth, through prayer, fasting and scripture study,” Banks said. “I also drew upon the feeling that I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do, and if it was meant to be, I would be blessed for it. I took peace in that.”

Successful Career after Mormon Mission

In mid-February the season after his return to BYU, he proposed to his girlfriend, who accepted, just before a game. He played an amazing game that day and the scouts returned, realizing their warnings had been groundless. Banks could play just fine and in June, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers as the first pick of the second round. He married and began training with the Helena Brewers in Idaho Falls in the summer of 1993 while his wife stayed behind to complete her degree.

He felt skills learned on his mission helped him succeed. He learned to stick it out when the going was hard and to be part of a team. He didn’t drink, which enhanced his playing, and his high standards became noticed by the other players. He bounced between the majors and the minors for a number of years. During this time, many players used performance enhancing drugs. He was tempted from time to time because they were succeeding and causing him to seem less skilled than other professionals. However, his faith prohibits such behavior, so he resisted temptation even when it meant his career was in danger.

Shortly after being sent down to the minors again—and being talked out of quitting by his wife—he had the opportunity to help another player on the new team gain a testimony of his Mormon faith. Once that was completed, he found himself invited back to the majors again almost immediately. It seemed he had simply needed to be available to this struggling player.

After receiving his World Series ring with the Marlins (although he didn’t play in that game) he eventually decided to leave baseball. He and his wife were expecting a second child and he wanted to focus on his family, something that is difficult to do when you are always traveling. He had promised his father he would graduate from college so he returned to school at Arizona State. He hoped his choice would set an example for his children. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology before graduating from the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health and A.T. Still University in Mesa, Ariz. He will finish his schooling in June, 2013. He is happy with his choices, even if being a dentist seems to most like a much less glamorous career. He enjoys the control he will have over his career, allowing him to do what he has always done—put first things first.

Jimmer’s father is Mormon, having converted at age eighteen. His mother is Catholic. Their children were permitted to choose their own religions and all followed in their father’s footsteps to become Mormons, a nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jimmer Fredette became a Mormon at age ten, having attended all his life. He reports that he gained a more in-depth testimony of his faith as he became older.

In high school, Jimmer Fredette was named one of the top 75 shooting guards by ESPN. He set a large number of records and collected an impressive number of awards. Despite this, college coaches didn’t pay much attention to him and he received offers from only twelve schools.

He played for Mormon-owned Brigham Young University from 2007 to 2011, winning most important awards and in his senior year, after playing in a nationally televised game and scoring 43 points, the media finally discovered him. His nickname, Jimmer, became a verb, representing opposing players who were the victims of high scores against them. The president of the United States, Barack Obama, said of him, “Unbelievable. Best scorer obviously in the country. Great talent.”

During the 2011 draft, he was the tenth pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, but was traded to the Sacramento Kings, where he now plays. Sales of his jersey dramatically increased profits for the team.

He married Whitney Wonnacott on June 1, 2012 in the Denver Temple, where Mormons are married not just for life, but for eternity.

Jimmer has said the gospel is more important to him than basketball and that God gave him a talent for sports which he then had a responsibility to develop. His coach at BYU noted that while he is fierce on the court, off the court he is humble and likable.

Manti Te’o has maintained an outstanding academic record despite the challenges of football. He is a National Scholar Athlete. He has a 3.2 GPA and will graduate in 2013 with a degree in graphic design. Although he had a solid opportunity to be drafted at the end of his junior year, he prayed and contemplated, and then decided to return to school to finish his senior year.

The day after Christmas, 2012, Manti Te’o learned he had been the victim of a hoax that was apparently carried about under the direction of a former high school classmate. This classmate and several others created an online persona named Lenny, complete with social media profiles and a picture stolen from a woman who did not know her picture was being used. They found a woman to portray Lenny and introduced her to Manti via internet and telephone. She claimed to have leukemia, a tactic likely devised to win his sympathy and to encourage him to stay in touch in order to help her through her trials. Over time, he became closer to her and a long-distance relationship developed. She told him that when she died, she did not want him to come to the funeral but instead wanted him to send flowers and then go out and play the best game ever in her honor. The perpetrators then timed the death to coincide with his grandmother’s death and an important game. As likely suspected, he played particularly well, wanting to honor their memories. When Manti received the telephone call revealing the hoax, he promptly alerted his coaches. They have hired a private investigative team to track down the cruel people who took advantage of a trusting young man’s compassion. They have uncovered at least one person and are now looking into whether or not laws or NCAA violations have occurred. The school is convinced, based on preliminary investigation, that Manti was a victim of a cruel and juvenile hoax. They have noted his deep integrity and his trusting nature. His athletic director sadly commented that Manti had now learned not to be as trusting of the world, and that, while valuable, is a sad thing for young people to learn.

Notre Dame’s athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, speculated on possible motives for the hoax:

”We had no idea of motive, and that was really significant to us. . . . Was somebody trying to create an NCAA violation at the core of this? Was there somebody trying to impact the outcome of football games by manipulating the emotions of a key player? Was there an extortion request coming? When you match the lack of sort of detail we lacked until we got some help investigating it with the risk involved, it was clear to me until we knew more we had to just to continue to work to try to gather the facts,” (See Story of Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend a Hoax.”)

When he lost the Heisman—predicted because he is a linebacker, but mourned by sportswriters who thought he should get it anyway—the press noted he smiled and promptly congratulated the winner. There was never any sign of anger. Sportswriters felt his leadership ability, which allowed him to motivate his team to be far better than predicted, should have entitled him to the award. However, he took away an unprecedented six other high level awards and then, after the ceremony tour, expressed relief at a week in which he only had to take finals and be a normal student, away from the glare of the media.

“Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii [after football] doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back.”   (Chicago Sun-Times, August 29, 2011)

His locker contains an autographed football, but not one from an NFL player. It is from an eight-year-old boy who intercepted two passes and returned them for touchdowns, something Manti had not yet done in his college career. He told the child he was Manti’s hero and the boy, excited to be the hero of a college player, obtained a commemorative Notre Dame football and signed it to Manti. Manti touches it before each game.

Manti Te’o is proof that fame and bad behavior don’t have to go together. He puts his priorities in the right place and focuses on the greater good.

Jabari Parker is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often nicknamed Mormons. His mother is Mormon and raised the children in her faith. His father is not. Jabari and his brother have always put their faith first. His brother served a voluntary two-year mission for his church, telling Jabari it was the best thing he’d ever done and the highlight of his life. His mother, who also served a mission, agrees.

Every morning, despite the demands of his schoolwork and basketball training, Jabari wakes up early and attends a religion class before school. The class, known as Seminary, is an in-depth, high-level study of the scriptures used by Mormons—two years of Bible study, one of the Book of Mormon, and one of the Doctrine and Covenants, which also covers church history. The class lasts all four years of high school. This year Jabari is studying the New Testament. In the course of the year, he will read all of it, study the doctrine and history, and memorize a list of important scriptures and their meanings.

More about Mormon Seminary

Jabari and his brother first learned to play basketball in their Mormon church building. Most of these buildings include a large hall used for sports, parties, and cultural entertainment and a basketball court is standard in these halls. Most teen programs include a basketball team that does not require try-outs and requires that every teen be allowed to play, regardless of skill. For Jabari, the church building was a safe place in the dangerous area of Chicago where he lives. He and his brother received their own key so they could practice whenever they wanted, and this, Jabari believes, helped keep him out of the trouble many teens in more dangerous neighborhoods succumb to.

When Jabari started to play high school basketball, his parents informed the coaches he was a student and a Mormon first. This is not the usual attitude of parents of talented young athletes, especially when the father was a professional athlete as well (he played for the Warriors), but the coaches agreed to honor that. Jabari attends church for three hours each Sunday and practices are scheduled around his meeting schedule. Even when the team travels, his coaches make certain he gets to church if he’s gone on a Sunday.

Jabari keeps scriptures in his backpack and is always ready to answer questions about his faith, since he is one of very few Mormons in his school. He also pays attention to the fact that younger athletes and fans are watching and he considers it a serous responsibility to set a good moral example for them. He is considered a highly grounded young man who has no interest in the fact that he is famous. When reporters went searching for him after a winning game one day, they found him serving water to the JV team instead of soaking in congratulations. He has said he doesn’t like the attention he gets and that basketball is a team sport, not an individual one.

There had been hope among Mormons that he might decide to play for Mormon-owned Brigham Young University in college. It was on his top five list, but for the coaching staff, not the religion. Parker knows from experience he can be a good Mormon anywhere. He selected Duke university, instead. When fans from a few of the schools  he didn’t choose began tweeting rude and profane things about him, he responded by tweeting:

“Trying to grow up fast. Act with a lot of class. I want to be respectful ALL the time. Sometimes people forget I’m 17#strivingforcharacter”

More resources

Famous Mormons

Mormon teens

Mormon Seminary

Mormons teach parents to ensure their children receive an education through traditional schooling or homeschooling. They also emphasize supplementing religious and secular education in the home by creating educationally rich homes. Both the men’s and women’s classes teach parenting skills that include enriching a child’s knowledge.

Mormons don’t have private schools below the college level except in a few more remote areas of the world. Parents choose whatever form of education they want for their children. However, they do operate several colleges, including the world-renowned Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. There are branches of this school in Idaho and Hawaii as well. In addition, there is a business college in Utah.

A unique aspect of Mormon education is the Perpetual Education Fund. This fund was established in 2001 to help students in developing nations get educations. It was noted that many Mormon young people in these countries served volunteer church missions. When they returned home, they had developed poise, business skills, the cultural skills required for higher level business, and often skill in a foreign language. Unfortunately, they then returned home to find no opportunity to use these skills because they could not afford to continue their educations. They remained poor and their children would also be poor, continuing a cycle they could not escape alone.

The church established a program in which worthy young Mormons could receive a loan to cover their educations in college or a trade school. When they get a job, they repay the loan. That repayment money is then used to send another student to college. The initial funding came from church funds and donations from church members.

The program is based on a highly successful program developed by Brigham Young in pioneer days. Early Mormons could not afford to come to Utah, and in a time when communication was difficult, it was simpler to have everyone in one place. He established the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Members were loaned the money to get to Utah and then when they found employment, they began repaying the loan. Their repayment money went directly into a fund to help others emigrating. It is estimated that about 30,000 people were helped through this program.

In today’s program, there is a small interest charge in order to motivate recipients to repay the loan more quickly. Most will attend programs in their own community so they can live at home and so they are motivated to stay locally in order to benefit their own communities. Initially, most recipients would receive education in the trades, but in the future, college educations may be provided for some. The applicant must enroll in the Institute of Religion, a program of supplemental religious instruction for college-age students and that director takes the initial application. The local religious leader verifies that the applicant is morally worthy and really does need help. The student does not receive any cash—the money is paid to the school to ensure it is used for the right purpose. The program costs almost nothing to carry out and is run by a volunteer director and a secretary.

“Where there is widespread poverty among our people, we must do all we can to help them to lift themselves, to establish their lives upon a foundation of self-reliance that can come of training. Education is the key to opportunity. This training must be done in the areas where they live. It will then be suited to the opportunities of those areas. And it will cost much less in such places than it would if it were done in the United States or Canada or Europe.” (See Gordon B. Hinckley, The Perpetual Education Fund, April 2001 General Conference.)

In 2009, a report to members by the current Mormon prophet, Thomas S. Monson, stated that 35,600 students had participated in the program so far and 18,900 had to date completed their training. Their incomes had doubled or tripled with just an average of 2.7 years of training. Currently, 50,000 students have participated, coming from more than fifty countries. 47 percent are men, and 53 percent are women. Some now have college degrees, paid for through the program or with their earnings from the jobs the programs helped them train for initially.

Some of the young people helped have posted their stories online to show what is possible. Beatriz, from Chile, was serving a mission when the program was announced. She entered a nursing program soon after returning home, using funds from the PEF. She met her husband in college.

“I am grateful for the voice of the prophet and for the Perpetual Education Fund. Many of the things I have been able to achieve had only been dreams before, but now they have become a reality. I have the opportunity for financial stability, to help my family and the Church. It is for these reasons and many more that I am now repaying the money that was loaned to me, so that other people can benefit as I did at the time the Lord deemed appropriate” (PEF Success Stories).

Mormons are also encouraged to develop a life-long habit of both spiritual and secular education, whether through formal means or self-education. This encourages them to learn all they can and to set an example for their families. Mormon believe they take their learning with them when they die, providing incentive to continue learning forever.