If Andy Reid and his wife, Tammy Reid, could describe the last 72 hours, the word they’d choose is “whirlwind.”
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On Thursday, the Reids and 23 of their family members spent 12 hours at Disneyland before the couple flew to New York City Friday morning. There, they attended the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Reid’s tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Immediately afterward, they flew back to California and returned to their beach house at 2 a.m. Saturday morning to spend the Fourth of July with their family before flying out that evening to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the head coach performed twice with the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square on Sunday.
“We don’t need a lot of sleep,” Tammy Reid told reporters Sunday afternoon. “We just need some sleep. But after this, we’re going to get a lot of sleep, maybe, to catch up. But it’s been a whirlwind few days for us.”
On Sunday, Andy Reid became the first guest narrator for “Music & the Spoken Word” since Tom Brokaw in 2011 and helped the choir commemorate America’s semiquincentennial.
“The teamwork which they do is unbelievable,” Reid said of the choir in a press conference following the broadcast. “The coordination of the orchestra and then the singers is one of the more spectacular things that you’ve got a chance to see.”
He called Mack Wilberg, the choir’s director, “one tough head coach.”
“I watched him in the warm-ups, and he was just getting after it,” he said. “And I can respect that. I know how that goes. If you’re going to put on a good show, sometimes you got to make some corrections, and he doesn’t miss a beat. And I really enjoyed watching him do his work.”
After spending Friday night with the who’s who of celebrities, the biggest names in Utah showed up Sunday morning to hear Andy Reid.
Members in the audience included President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; President Camille N. Johnson, General Relief Society president; Utah Gov. Spencer Cox; members of Utah’s congressional delegation; BYU football coach Kalani Sitake; Weber State head coach Eric Kjar, New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore and former BYU quarterback and Saints tight end Taysom Hill.
Two performances were held to help meet the demand to see Reid, and before each performance, Reid was interviewed by former Utah Jazz power forward Thurl Bailey as part of the pre-show interview.
It was during those interviews that Reid shared his love of his former coach LaVell Edwards, whom he would talk to once a week, and revealed he’s been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift lately.
But Andy Reid’s appearance almost didn’t happen, and it’s not because they were invited to the wedding of the year.
How ‘Music & the Spoken Word’ landed Andy Reid
The Reids, both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, received a text from the secretary of Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, saying he wanted to meet with them, Tammy Reid said Sunday.
“We had zero idea what they were going to do or say, and that’s a little disconcerting for weeks at a time,” she said.
Elder Stevenson and his wife, Lesa, traveled to Kansas City, where they joined the Reids for a barbecue.
But the Stevensons weren’t alone. They brought Derrick Porter, the executive producer, principal writer, and presenter of the Spoken Word with them.
During dinner, Tammy Reid had mentioned to Elder Stevenson that they were looking forward to spending the Fourth of July with their family at their beach house in California.
Elder Stevenson paused and asked Porter to “take it from here,” Tammy Reid recalled.
Porter then said they had hoped Andy Reid would guest narrate the special “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
“I just went, ‘No,’” Tammy Reid said. “I don’t know what he was thinking, but he was probably, ‘Oh my gosh.’ He said, ‘Well, I have a solution.’ Anyway, long story short, we ended up working it out, and we got to do this great opportunity.”
Michael O. Leavitt, president of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and former governor of Utah, told reporters that the decision to ask the Reids was based on a hunger for authenticity.
“America and the world hungers for authentic voices,” he said. “The Tabernacle Choir is an authentic voice, but there is no more authentic voice in America than Andy Reid. And for him to be able to stand or sit in front of the crowd and espouse principles of importance and truth could never have been delivered better by anyone.”
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Andy Reid’s two “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcasts on Sunday weren’t his first performances with the choir.
In July 2003, the choir — known at the time as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir — performed at Philadelphia’s Mann Theater, where Reid conducted the choir in singing “Fly, Eagles, Fly,” the fight song of his then-team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
The three-time Super Bowl winning head coach reflected on that experience Sunday.
“The people that know me know I have zero musical talents,” he said. “So Tam has all the musical ability, and she coached me up on how to get up there and move my arms. Those guys promised they wouldn’t watch me so they could sing it and do well.”
While he enjoyed that opportunity, he said, “it was nice to be in air conditioning” this time, compared to the 120°F weather and “massive amount of humidity” he said he experienced in Philadelphia.
“I could sit back, and I could just enjoy the music. And what a phenomenal job the orchestra did and also the singers,” he said.
This time, Tammy Reid got to join in on the fun. She sang with the choir during the dress rehearsal.
“It’s something that, maybe it’s been on people’s bucket lists,” she said. “I didn’t ever dream of something like that. I love to sing, and I grew up singing with my family and my sisters. There were nine in our family, seven children, and we sang and everything. So, I love to sing, but who’d’ve ever thunk?”
She admitted she still couldn’t believe it happened, especially since she and the choir hadn’t practiced together.
“But they’re amazing, so they covered up anything that I may have done wrong. But it was really cool,” she said.
Faith ‘gives you guidelines’
In his press conference, Reid was asked about how his faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ has influenced his football career and family.
“It gives you guidelines, I think, that you need in life. You need to kind of know where you’re at and where you’re going. So, I’m able to share that with people that I associate with, and likewise with our family,” he said.
But Reid noted that faith does not make one immune to adversity.
“We all have things that happen, and you’ve got to work through those. But it keeps you on course, and so you keep hanging onto the iron rod and keep moving forward,” he said.
Reid added that the Church of Jesus Christ has taught him what he needs to do to return to God.
“We all want to kind of know how to get from point A to point B,” he said. “The church does a great job in giving us direction on how to do that, how we can return to our Heavenly Father. And it’s a road map that’s beautiful and we just have to follow it and stay strong through the trials and tribulations that you might have.”
What Andy Reid said at ‘Music & the Spoken Word’
In his message, Reid chose to reflect on the guiding principles of the United States’ Founding Fathers’ desire for “a more perfect union.”
“Our Founding Fathers knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they believed that if we stayed united, we’d keep moving forward,” he said. “Whether on the football field, in our communities or in our homes, progress can at times feel like an uphill climb. But I’ve learned that when people come together for a common goal, when they respect and support one another, progress happens. That’s what a team does. It works to get better every single day.”
Reid concluded by sharing his hope for the country, likening it to a quote from Benjamin Franklin from the Constitutional Convention. Franklin had noticed a sun painted on the back of George Washington’s chair and wondered if it was a rising or setting sun. The day the Constitution was signed, Franklin declared that it was a rising sun.
Now, the day after America’s semiquincentennial, Andy Reid said he feels the same way.
“For 250 years, that sun has continued to rise on this land, and I believe it will for generations to come. We can all do our part. We can help build a more perfect union: a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
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