Coach Mike Holmgren has Super Bowl rings on his fingers, a street named after him in Green Bay and MVP quarterbacks who credit him for helping develop them into greats. But the person Coach Holmgren cares most about impressing is his wife, Kathy.
Kathy and Mike met in 1960 at their church's summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California. They were just 12 years old at the time, attending a family camp. “I believe the first words I ever heard him say were, ‘I hope God doesn't call me to be a missionary, because I want to play in the NFL,’” she said.
Football has always been Mike Holmgren’s passion, but faith has been his foothold thanks to Kathy’s unwavering commitment to Christian missionary work. Despite having differing goals, “We became friends anyway and it blossomed into a romance that was to be ‘re-kindled’ every summer until we graduated from college,” she said.
After graduating from college, where she studied nursing, Kathy spent ten months in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), where her church had established several hospitals and a nursing school. “I loved Africa and had a very fulfilling and meaningful experience. I believed I would know when I returned from Africa whether missions or marriage would be my future. I thought that if I married Mike, I couldn't do both, but life is full of surprises! When I got home I was still in love and Mike proposed.”
During that time, Mike had his heart set on playing in the NFL. “Mike really didn't know what he was going to do after he got married, Kathy said. “He was cut by the St. Louis Cardinals (before they went to Arizona) then had a tryout with the NY Jets and was cut again. I believe that at that time he gave up his dream to play. It didn't seem to occur to him to try again. I don't believe players (in those days) tried out year after year. If this had happened now he may have tried again. We knew I could find a job as a nurse, but we did not know what he might do. We didn't even have a place to live. We didn't know what the future held, but knew we wanted to find out together.”
Things turned out well for the Holmgrens. “Mike's career has been extraordinary. I worked at a local hospital and he coached a high school football team and went to graduate school so he could teach as well. Twenty years and 5 jobs later, in 1992, he was hired as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.
Football life can be tumultuous. “The years preceding his first head coaching position were filled with many ups and downs. We moved a lot and my daughters went to many schools. Mike worked long hours during football season and it seemed like I had the bulk of responsibility for our home and the raising of our girls. Yet I knew he was there if I needed him and that the family was more important than his job. When Mike was on the road, I realized that he missed us more than we missed him because we had each other and he was by himself. It was a huge help that our four daughters loved the game of football. They knew all the players of every team he coached and watched each game with a critical eye so they could critique the team's performance.”
Despite her passion for Mike’s career, Kathy did not watch all of his games. “I watched the games with that same intensity but soon found that afterwards - win, lose or draw - I would have a headache that lasted for days. I had a history of migraines and the games seemed to increase the frequency. After some serious soul-searching I decided the best solution was to stay at home - or at the very least, not watch the games,” she said.
Kathy explained, “The first time I tried this was at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. I went to our box, talked with the family and guests, then walked around town and tried to relax. In that small town I found I could hear crowd noise and even that caused my heart to race. To filter that, I got a small tape player, put the ear buds in and listened to tapes of sermons preached by my favorite pastors. The words calmed my spirit and the message reminded me over and over that God was in charge and loved me and really didn't care who won the game. “
“I was very thankful for Mike's understanding of my need to "separate" from the game and he willingly discussed plays and players with our daughters instead of me. They do it still, even though he isn't coaching,” she said.
Being the wife of an NFL coach requires sacrifice. “I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that initially I felt I gave up a great deal being the wife of a coach. I had my own dreams after all. But God is faithful and my marriage to Mike and the platform he had as a successful NFL coach, has opened more doors than I could ever have imagined.”
Kathy had opportunities to work in local missions in each place where Mike coached. “When he was at BYU I was asked to tell about my "mission" experience to the ladies of the Relief Society. When Mike was an assistant with the San Francisco 49er's I had the opportunity to work in Radiation Therapy and Hospice and live out my Christian faith while caring for others. It was difficult to have a real "job" in Green Bay so I volunteered at a food pantry, served on several boards, and earned a graduate degree in social work.”
By the time the Holmgrens moved to Seattle, their kids were grown and out of the house. "I had an ‘empty nest’ and time to volunteer at a homeless shelter, as the parish nurse at our church, and as a helper with Catholic Social Services,” she said. “I used to clean house for an elderly lady and told her once she should pray for the team to win as the next wife of the Seahawk's coach might not want to clean her house. I was just kidding of course!”
“The best part of our move to Seattle was my renewed involvement with Christian missions overseas,” she said. “I was asked to go on a trip with Medical Teams International to Oaxaca, Mexico to help put in cement floors for very poor folks in the surrounding villages. That was the beginning of a wonderful partnership between the Seattle Seahawks and MTI.”
Then, in 2005 Kathy and one of her daughters, who works as an Obstetrician/Gynecologist, were asked to go to the Congo with a team of doctors recruited by Medical Teams International. “The trip was scheduled for February 2006 and at the time we couldn't think of a conflict. We were wrong when it turned out to be the first time Seattle went to the Super Bowl. However, we were committed. We went to the Congo and ABC, who sponsored the Super Bowl that year, followed us and reported on our trip during half time. The publicity was priceless”.
Since Mike retired, he and Kathy have more time to spend together. “He still watches football, but on Tuesday afternoons we go together to the food pantry located on the first floor of our church and give out food to those less fortunate,” she said. “Mike and I have also been on two international mission trips together. One trip was back to Oaxaca where we put in more cement floors and one was to Guatemala where we built vented stoves. Those trips were life changing for him”.
Kathy and Mike recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, they went to a nursery and purchased flowers for the pots on their condo porch and a hanger for a humming bird feeder “a special anniversary gift to each other” she said.
“We have so much for which to be thankful,” she said. “Coaching in the NFL made much of that possible. We have retired in Seattle and folks still remember and love Mike the coach and they have great respect for his ability as a coach but, even more, for the person he was off the field. We try always to be mindful that we are God's hands and feet as we live out our Christian faith.”