Coach Grant Teaff has created a legacy that goes beyond his notable success as a football coach at Baylor University.

Since 1956, Coach Teaff has faithfully served the ministry of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). With more than 60 years of experience as an FCA volunteer, he has been the keynote speaker at hundreds of FCA banquets, camps, and is a former chairman of the FCA Board of Trustees. Coach Teaff’s unwavering commitment to serve and carry out the mission of FCA has impacted hundreds of coaches and athletes who have had the privilege to know him.

To honor and recognize Coach Teaff’s impressionable mark he’s made on the ministry, he has been given the 2024 Branch Rickey Service Award. The FCA Branch Rickey Service Award is presented to individuals who live out the core values of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes: Integrity, Serving, Teamwork, and Excellence–and Coach Teaff does just that and more.

As a football coach for 30 years, he is most known for his 21 years as Baylor University’s head football coach. Stepping into a program that hadn’t accomplished more than seven wins in the five years prior to his time, Teaff coached the Baylor Bears to conference championship titles in 1974 and 1980, led the Bears to eight bowl wins, and achieved a school record of 128 wins. But, more than the revitalization of a program that was quickly losing steam, Coach Teaff brought his influence as a follower of Jesus to Baylor’s campus and beyond.

Coach Teaff went on to serve as athletic director at Baylor from 1992 to 1993, before becoming the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) in February of 1994 until 2016. Using his platform with AFCA, Teaff was an advocate for FCA to serve coaches at the convention and throughout the association. His influence opened the door for thousands of coaches to hear the Gospel and learn about what it means to coach transformationally.

Because of his profound influence over the years, FCA established the Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award, which recognizes a football coach who “exemplifies Christian principles and who is involved in FCA.” This award is presented annually at the AFCA convention.

Mark Buford, an avid supporter of FCA and former member former of the 1974 football team and friend of Coach Teaff, led a coordinated effort to honor Teaff at Baylor’s 50th reunion of the SWC Championship season. Mark had the opportunity to share about Coach Teaff’s remarkable influence as a coach and his involvement with FCA. John Roise, Chairman of the FCA Board of Trustees, presented the Branch Rickey Award at the dinner–making for an even more memorable night for Coach Teaff.

From a letter written to FCA’s President, Shane Williamson, and the FCA family, Coach Teaff shares about his time and what an honor it is to be the recipient of the 2024 Branch Rickey Award.

“I recently received the 2024 Branch Rickey Service Award and I was so very moved and honored. It has been my absolute privilege to serve FCA as a volunteer since 1956. Attending the first FCA Camp in Estes Park, Colorado changed my life and the trajectory of my career and family. It was a grand beginning to my love for FCA, its ministries and those who serve. That devotion has grown through the years. Surely, the mission of FCA is becoming reality, just as our founders intended.”-Coach Grant Teaff

Thank you, Coach Teaff, for your incredible commitment and service to the ministry of FCA!