Excerpt: Courtesy Call

As a defensive lineman for the Baltimore Colts, the 6-foot-4-inch, 260-pound Joe Ehrmann was an all-pro bruiser on the field and a party animal off of it. But in 1978, after his 18-year-old brother died of cancer, Ehrmann blazed another path. He played a few more seasons, then became an ordained minister who since then has run churches and charities serving Baltimore’s neediest residents. He also became a defensive coach—for the private Gilman School—and, along with head coach Francis "Biff" Poggi, established a program called Building Men for Others. A values-centered approach to football, it stresses love, respect, and teamwork, and it demands of the competitive Gilman Greyhounds a spirit of generosity.

When Jeffrey Marx, a former Colts ball boy and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, reunited with Ehrmann a few years ago, he decided to shadow the team. The result is Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood (Simon & Schuster). One of the biggest games of 2001 took the Gilman team to New York City to play Poly Prep, whose coach exhibited a style very different from Ehrmann’s.

Soon after we got to the field, we were greeted by whipping winds and thick sheets of rain. "Gilman football weather," Biff shouted with glee. After weeks of hearing the head coach say the exact same thing, whether it was 90 degrees with stifling humidity or 70 with gentle breezes, I finally realized that all playing conditions were ideal to him. It was always Gilman football weather. Biff took great pleasure whenever one of his players echoed his standard weather report: "Gilman football weather, Coach." Joe just smiled whenever such...