The verse that became part of American sports
You don’t have to be Christian to recognize John 3:16. You might not know the words by heart, but if you’ve watched enough American sports, you’ve probably seen the reference: on a sign behind the goalposts, beneath Tim Tebow’s eyes, or written on the Pride caps of three San Francisco Giants pitchers.
For decades, the Bible citation has been a familiar sight in sports broadcasts. Its path there runs through centuries of Christian preaching and, more recently, a rainbow wig, live television, Google searches, and a hostage standoff.
The gospel in miniature
John 3:16 comes from Jesus’ nighttime conversation with Nicodemus in the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Early Christian thinkers saw how much the verse expressed in so few words. Around the start of the fifth century, John Chrysostom reflected on the significance packed into each phrase: God’s love for humanity, the gift of his Son, faith, salvation, and the promise of eternal life.
Martin Luther later described it as “the gospel in miniature.” By the 19th century, it had become a frequent focus of evangelical preaching. English evangelist Henry Moorhouse preached repeatedly on God’s love from John 3:16 during a visit to D.L. Moody’s church in Chicago. Moody later said the experience changed how he understood that love.
It would be difficult to condense the Christian message much further. But television offered a new way to spread the verse—and one man found a way to put it in front of millions.
Enter the Rainbow Man
Rollen Stewart wasn’t initially trying to spread a religious message. He wanted attention.
During the 1977 NBA Finals in Portland, Stewart realized that a television camera could offer a quick route to fame. Wearing a rainbow-colored Afro wig, he danced in front of a cameraman filming the crowd and made it onto the broadcast. “Once I saw the red light, I was hooked,” he later recalled.
He began turning up at major sporting events, learning where cameras were likely to point. At football games, he stood behind the goalposts. At baseball games, he positioned himself behind home plate. At the Masters, he managed to appear over Jack Nicklaus’ shoulder as the golfer prepared to tee off.
Stewart even carried a small battery-powered television, letting him watch the broadcast from inside the stadium and adjust his position as the cameras moved. He wasn’t much of a sports fan; the games were useful because they were shown live.
After the 1980 Super Bowl, Stewart returned to his hotel room feeling low. He had spent years chasing fame and found it hadn’t brought him much satisfaction. Then he watched Bible prophecy teacher Charles Taylor on television and became a born-again Christian.
The wig stayed, but Stewart now had a message to promote: John 3:16.
Six characters and a colon
The verse was a natural choice. Christians had long treated it as a compact statement of their faith, and Stewart found a way to shrink it further. He didn’t need to display the whole verse—just the reference, large enough for viewers to read on screen. They could look up the words themselves.
In 1984, Stewart was reported to have displayed his banner at eight football stadiums in five days. He also appeared at golf tournaments, championship basketball games, the World Series, college bowl games, and even the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
Stewart believed that viewers who didn’t know what John 3:16 meant might eventually look it up. “Some will pick up their Bibles and begin reading it,” he said.
Live sports made his approach especially effective. Advertisers paid heavily to reach audiences during major games, but Stewart could get his message into the broadcast without buying airtime. A network could edit a recorded program before it aired. It couldn’t remove a banner from a field-goal shot that had already gone live.
Over time, teams and broadcasters pushed back. Camera operators tried to keep Stewart out of frame, and stadiums began restricting his signs. By 1986, nearly every NFL team had banned the banners.
The dispute led to a federal lawsuit after security at Washington’s RFK Stadium stopped Stewart and an associate from displaying their signs. In other places, Stewart came up with Scripture banners that could be worn like ponchos and revealed by spreading his arms. He joked that security would have to undress them to take the signs away.
By then, though, John 3:16 had become part of the sports landscape.
Did anyone actually look it up?
It’s fair to wonder whether Stewart’s plan worked. Did anyone at home really see the citation and reach for a Bible?
Mike Kerrigan did. The Charlotte attorney was about 11 when he kept noticing the Rainbow Man during football games. Eventually, he asked his father what John 3:16 meant. His father didn’t know either, so they opened a Bible and read it together.
Kerrigan recalled the moment decades later. Stewart had hoped that the reference would make viewers curious enough to find out what it meant. At least in one family’s living room, it did.
Stewart’s own life, however, took a much darker turn.
The Rainbow Man’s story takes a dark turn
By the late 1980s, Stewart’s marriage had fallen apart and his money was gone. His religious beliefs also became increasingly focused on elaborate predictions of an approaching apocalypse.
Television remained a constant presence. While living in inexpensive Los Angeles hotels, Stewart later said he sometimes watched for as many as 18 hours a day: Christian broadcasts, daytime talk shows, news programs, reality television, and evening sermons. He described himself as being “fed by the media.”
Eventually, appearing on television no longer seemed enough. Stewart began trying to create events that would compel broadcasters to cover him.
In 1991, authorities accused him of setting off foul-smelling devices at several Southern California sites, including the Crystal Cathedral, Trinity Broadcasting Network studios, and a Christian bookstore.
Then, on September 22, 1992, Stewart took over a room at a Hyatt near Los Angeles International Airport while armed with a gun. Two day laborers escaped, and a hotel maid locked herself in a bathroom. Stewart covered the windows with religious messages and demanded an extended live press conference. Believing the rapture was near, he said he needed to warn the world before it was too late.
During the standoff, Stewart told a police negotiator that he had watched cop shows to understand what was happening. The negotiator suggested he might be watching too much television. Stewart replied that he watched a lot.
After about nine hours, police entered the room and arrested him. In 1993, he was sentenced to three life terms, with the possibility of parole.
From family Bibles to Google
Stewart eventually disappeared from sports broadcasts, but the citation remained.
On January 8, 2009, Florida played Oklahoma for the national championship. Gators quarterback Tim Tebow had spent the season wearing Philippians 4:13 beneath his eyes: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” For the title game, he wanted to switch to John 3:16.
Coach Urban Meyer objected. He was superstitious and didn’t want to change something that had worked. As Tebow later recalled, Meyer protested that the verse had helped get them to the championship. Tebow explained that John 3:16 captured the heart of his faith, and Meyer eventually agreed.
Florida won. Unlike Stewart, Tebow didn’t have to work to get on camera; the broadcasters were already looking for him.
Viewers began searching for the verse online during the game. By the next morning, “John 3:16” was Google’s most popular search term.
Stewart had once hoped that people would see the reference and open a Bible. Now they could search for it on the internet in seconds.
The story gained an almost too-perfect sequel three years later. On January 8, 2012, Tebow led the Denver Broncos against the Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL playoff game. Denver won with an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime.
Tebow had thrown for exactly 316 yards. He completed 10 passes, averaging 31.6 yards per completion.
The verse that wouldn’t leave sports
By 2011, John 3:16 was so closely associated with televised sports that a proposed Super Bowl commercial played on the connection. In it, football fans watched a game as the broadcast zoomed in on a quarterback with the verse written beneath his eyes. One fan reached for a smartphone and said he would look it up.
Fox declined to air the ad, citing its policy against commercials from religious organizations that promote particular beliefs or practices.
The citation kept appearing in other sports-related disputes. In 2012, a Texas school district became involved in a legal fight over cheerleaders displaying Bible verses on banners that the football team ran through before games.
More recently, Giants pitcher Landen Roupp used a tactic reminiscent of Stewart’s, though he chose a different passage. During the team’s June 12 Pride Night, Roupp wore a rainbow-logo cap with “Gen. 9:12-16” written across it, partly covering the logo. Pitchers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker also added biblical references to their caps.
Roupp’s passage describes God establishing the rainbow as a sign of his covenant with Noah and promising never again to destroy the earth with a flood. The rainbow logo had, unexpectedly, acquired a biblical footnote.
Major League Baseball told the pitchers not to repeat the inscriptions, explaining that uniform rules prohibit unauthorized messages. The league said its warning had nothing to do with what the messages said.
Roupp stood by his decision, telling reporters that it reflected something he believed in. There’s no indication he was thinking of Stewart. Still, the resemblance is hard to miss: nearly half a century after the Rainbow Man began putting Scripture references in front of television cameras, a baseball player had done something similar, leaving viewers to discover the verse for themselves.
