Anthony Calvillo shares Story at Ottawa Banquet - Tuesday May 11, 2010

The 45^th  National Prayer Breakfast began as it has for many years – with an evening banquet.  The annual gathering in Ottawa began almost half a century ago as a breakfast organized by the National Prayer group, a non-partisan group of Members of Parliament that meet weekly for prayer.  Some years back a dinner was added the evening before.

At this year’s Monday evening banquet, Montreal Allouettes Quarterback Anthony Calvillo shared the story of his faith in Christ and how it carried him and his wife through her recent battle with cancer.  Calvillo was born in 1972 in Los Angeles and excelled in sports during his high school years.  When his parents separated and his father left, Anthony’s life began to spiral downward.  He began getting into trouble both in school and outside of school.  His mother had warned him that if it continued she would pull him out of sports.  His rebellion continued and his mother kept her word. 

This was a wake-up call for Calvillo.  At the same time a coach encouraged him to work hard at both academics and sports in order to possibly get a scholarship and Anthony did so.  While he wasn’t awarded a scholarship, a local Junior College accepted him as a walk-on and he played there for two years.  In 1992 Calvillo transferred to Utah State University, having a solid junior year.  In his senior year he set a school record with 3260 yards of total offense in the regular season and twice tossing five touchdown passes in one game, also a school record.

Upon graduation Anthony was invited to try out for the new Las Vegas Posse of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the team and when it folded a year later, he was picked up by the Hamilton Tiger Cats.  Three years later, after being cut by the Tiger Cats, he signed as a free agent with the Montreal Allouettes.  Since arriving in Montreal, Calvillo has become one of the most outstanding CFL quarterbacks in history. 

It was during his time under the tutelage of Tracy Hamm, the starting Allouettes Quarterback at the time, that Calvillo’s live changed.  Hamm was the mentor that Calvillo needed to become a top tier quarterback and his consistent Christian faith also had an impact on Anthony.  Hamm invited Calvillo to a weekly Bible study that he led and after two years, Anthony committed his life to Jesus Christ.  In his words “I see now that God was preparing us for what was ahead.”

On October 15, 2007, just after giving birth to their second child, Anthony Calvillo’s wife Alexia was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma.  According to Anthony, upon getting the news they fell to their knees and prayed.  They trusted in God and prayed that Alexia would get well.  Calvillo honestly admitted that even though they tried to be positive, they did have to deal with the “what if” question. 

So Anthony made a decision. Even though he was close to breaking a number of CFL scoring records, he requested a leave of absence to care for his wife.  The Als agreed to the request and Calvillo stepped aside for the rest of the season.

With Alexis’ cancer in remission Anthony returned to the Allouettes training camp prior to the 2008 season.  The sceptics felt he was too old and doubted he could come back after so much time off.  Instead, he had one of his best seasons ever.  The Als made it all the way to the Grey Cup, losing the final game to the Calgary Stampeders 22-14.  At the banquet last evening, Calvillo admitted that he had promised Alexis that he was playing the 2008 Eastern Championship Game and the Grey Cup for her and that the worst part of losing the Grey Cup game was that he felt he had let her down.

When the 2009 season got underway, Anthony asked his two trainers to put him through a battery of food tests and it was discovered that his body didn’t deal well with a number of foods, including dairy and gluten.  So he cut those out of his diet.  His trainers also noticed that he didn’t play well in the fourth quarter and they set him on a program that would help in play at his best for the full game. It all paid off.  On November 29, 2009 he led Montreal to a comeback victory in the 97^th Grey Cup when the Allouettes defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a last-second field goal.

In speaking of his wife’s battle with cancer and the good news of remission, Calvillo said “we are thankful and we are blessed.”  Through the journey with Alexia’s cancer, their faith grew and they learned many lessons about trusting God.  

And about getting priorities right.

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