MTP 33: Shelly Meyers on Football, Faith, and Family

Shelly is a Professor of Education at Voorhees University. She shares her unique path to college through a football scholarship, and an embarrassing college moment with WWE superstar Bobby Lashley. Shelly opens up about making unhealthy choices which now informs her work with students, and recounts how she met her husband while "running away" from a toxic relationship to Alaska. She explains how both she and her husband see their work with students as their ministry field.

Read about Shelly:  https://meettheprof.com/view/professors/entry/shelly-meyers/

Email Shelly: smeyers@voorhees.edu

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Transcript

Shane (00:00)
Hey everyone, and welcome to Meet the Prof. This is the podcast where we take questions from college students and we ask them to Christian professors. Our goal is to encourage Christ-centered conversations on the college campus. So my name is Shane, and my friend, Spence Hackney and I are so grateful you're with us. Thank you for tuning in. you're going to get to hear my interview with Shelly Meyers.

unfortunately, Spence wasn't able to join us on this interview. this is just part one. I think you're really going to enjoy this. Shelly is a professor of education at Voorhees University. we cover some great things and just the fact that she got to college on a football scholarship is like the best teaser in the world. You have to listen just to that part at the beginning. So before we get started, if you would please remember, however you're listening to this podcast or watching it, if you would click.

follow or like or subscribe and that'll help us get this to more college students. And so, well, let's jump in. Here is my interview with Shelly Meyers.

Shane (00:59)
Shelly, thank you so much for being on the

how are you doing this morning?

Shelly Meyers (01:04)
am doing great. It has been a very early morning, but I am ready. I'm so excited to be here with you too, Shane.

Shane (01:10)
I am, too. Well, the very first thing I want to ask you is, Shelly, how in the world did you get to college on a football scholarship?

Shelly Meyers (01:18)
Okay, so I have loved football forever, I think. So I grew up in St. Louis and right outside of St. Louis, we kind of migrated around a little bit outside of the outside of the county. And during my time in high school is whenever the St. Louis Rams became an expansion team in or

they moved whatever, I think they were an expansion team because I remember them talking about becoming the St. Louis Stallions at one point, which that didn't happen. It was the Rams. But anyway, so my cousin became a cheerleader for the Rams. Like we were all like into this. We were excited and we had already, like we would watch Mizzou football games and you know, that kind of thing. So whenever I went to, I guess,

Shane (01:54)
Yeah.

Shelly Meyers (02:10)
I think it started in middle school, middle school and high school. I was the manager for the football team. And so the manager is in charge of the equipment, making sure all the helmets are good to go. But one of the major things I had to do was keep the coach and the players off the field. So I got to boss around on all these boys and mostly the head coach. Like my biggest job was keep the head coach off the field so we don't get a technical. So.

Shane (02:16)
What does a manager do?

Shelly Meyers (02:39)
So I literally would like go down the sideline and push everybody back behind the white line. you know, so that was my biggest thing. I have been tackled on at least two occasions. Because if you don't move fast enough, they're coming right at you. And I've been clipped at the knees and all that. But anyway, so high school comes around. I was offered, so a couple of different scholarships.

Shane (02:48)
no.

Yeah. my goodness.

Shelly Meyers (03:04)
Because I went to a girls' state, I ended up on the recruiting list for all of the colleges in the state, as everyone does. And then, so I got an offer to go to a college that was very near where we lived, and my dad was like, cool, you can go there and you can live at home. And I was like.

I gotta go, too close. So I very much wanted to go away to school. then my high school football coach was an alum of Missouri Valley College. I asked him, I was like, do you think that I could do this in college? Like I would love to work like in a front office eventually or like work for an NFL team or whatever. But I really liked game day, you know, stuff. And I knew how to run the equipment room. I knew how to do all that stuff.

Shane (03:27)
Too close.

Shelly Meyers (03:56)
And he was like, well, let me make a phone call and see if they need anybody at the college I went to. So he calls and talks to Mike Markholz, who was actually the head wrestling coach at the time. Coach Markholz was like, well, let me check with the football coach. We're getting a new coach. I'm not sure what the situation is there. goes, but I need a wrestling manager too. And I had done some wrestling stuff, but my passion was really in football.

Shane (04:24)
No way.

Shelly Meyers (04:25)
And so he, they finally get the new football coach hired and one or two of their managers was getting ready to graduate. And then other one was a rising sophomore. And so he was like, yeah, we need a manager. So I got a scholarship. I got recruited to be a manager for the football team. was great. And so the other manager and I became very, very quick, good friends. He and I still stay in touch.

is actually a teacher in Saudi Arabia right now. Yeah, so it was, yeah, and the rest was kind of history. So was, football was a little bit, it was my foot in the door in college. And I was one of those kids who needed multiple ways, multiple funding streams to get to school. was a first generation college student and graduate. And so that was one of the things that got me there.

Shane (04:56)
wow.

Amazing.

Wow, what an amazing door open to you. And this tells me a little bit about your personality if you're able to run along the sidelines and push back coach and football players. You have some toughness to you? Really?

Shelly Meyers (05:33)
Yeah, you learn some management skills real quick, you know, and they know they have to listen to you too. And so sometimes you're like, come on, you know, and so they kind of buck up, but they know you don't give back. We're in trouble. yeah, so and of course it was like during the time when you had like the wires and you had to like do this number here. So I kept that head coach on a short leash so that he couldn't go all that far, but I had to pay. Yes, there were wires. They weren't wireless yet. And so there were these wires.

Shane (05:46)
This is great.

What do you mean by wires? I don't remember that.

with their headpiece. gotcha.

Shelly Meyers (06:03)
Yeah, and so I would have to like hold on to it. If he went too far, I had to like go with him, but then I had to make sure he wasn't going onto the field. So yeah, was a big job.

Shane (06:09)
I might unplug. yeah, yeah. That's something. So, well, do you still have a cousin that's a cheerleader? 

Shelly Meyers (06:20)
No, she is, she was a cheerleader for two years. She's only a year older than me. So she cheered for two years and then, stepped away from that. and so she is, a homeschool parent now and she runs a dance studio and several other businesses with her husband. And so, but she, she, she stayed in the dance world, but outside of the professional cheerleading.

Shane (06:28)
Yeah.

Yeah

Okay, good. All right, well, let's stay in the non -serious world for a minute because the next question I want to ask you is what is the most embarrassing moment you ever had as a college student? It can or cannot relate to football. It doesn't have to.

Shelly Meyers (06:55)
Okay, this.

Okay, it doesn't relate to football. We were, it kind of goes back to the wrestling thing. So, I went to Missouri Valley at the same time as Bobby Lashley, who is a WWE superstar. Yes, okay. So Bobby is about two years older than me. And at the time he was dating one of my sorority sisters and the...

Shane (07:14)
that right?

Shelly Meyers (07:26)
wrestling match, I don't know what kind of event we were at, but the wrestling team was working the concession stand. And you know how wrestlers have like the cauliflower ears from their head gear or whatever? So I go up and I don't know this about wrestlers at this point. And I go up and I look at Bobby and I'm like, it's so interesting that you all have the same birth defect with your ears.

Shane (07:38)
-huh. -huh.

Shelly Meyers (07:54)
And he just looks at me he goes, yeah, I don't know what our parents must have, like, our moms must have drank the same Kool -Aid or something. Like, he totally, like, fell into my gullibility. And then they had a big old laugh and I was like, what, what? And I mean, people are just dying laughing behind me. And I'm like, it's from their head gear. I'm like, wow. wow. So, yes, yes, that was one of my most embarrassing moments.

Shane (07:55)
You

He played along.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah.

I love that. Thank you for sharing that. At least you didn't ask the football coaches early on what kind of defect everyone had with their whole head because they wore helmets.

Shelly Meyers (08:31)
No. No.

Shane (08:34)
I love that. Well, I would love to dive in more about some of the things you shared online on MeetTheProf.com specifically about God's work in your life. And I was just so caught up in the story as you were sharing it. It sounded like you went through a whirlwind of life change starting like your junior year in college. So I was wondering, can you tell us more about that?

what was going on in your life spiritually and what do even see God doing during that season?

Shelly Meyers (09:11)
So in order to tell that story, I have to back up just a little bit. our family is, so my parents separated when I was about six, but they didn't divorce until I was about 14. And so by that time, I had another sister and brother, my mom had another son and daughter with my stepdad. My dad met.

who the woman who I called my stepmom, although they never married, she had four children. So it was kind of his, mine, ours, and whoever happened to show up for dinner. during my childhood, I had an aunt and uncle who were very influential. They and my mom, and I cannot remember, I think maybe my stepdad was involved with it.

they were involved in a home -based church that I later found out was on a cult list. So, I mean, you never know what's gonna end up on a cult list, anyway, and especially during the late 80s, mid to late 80s. And so, my introduction to Jesus was that. Very heartfelt, I feel like I was saved.

Shane (10:13)
no.

Shelly Meyers (10:36)
for you know to use that churchy word whenever I was a child. I can't tell you what how old I was. And but so I had those seeds planted but we did not go to church. We did not go to a typical church. I had gone to church with friends or just like vacation Bible school or whatever but in my family that was not a thing. My dad did not really

believe in Jesus until much later in his life. And even then it was kind of on his own terms. so we joke that we kind of grew up heathen. And I still very much have some of my heathen roots. Like when my pastor says, like, cause I sing in the choir at church and he'll say, y 'all have been singing this since you were kids. I said, you forget some of us grew up heathen. We have not been singing this since we were kids. And so,

Shane (11:19)
Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Shelly Meyers (11:35)
So anyway, fast forward a little bit. Some of the things that I had learned were commonplace or acceptable. I knew in my heart were wrong, but I chose during that, from my junior year of high school to my junior year of college was kind of my wild child stage. And I think about,

the choices that I made during that season. And I think what I was really trying to do was impress people who really didn't care about being impressed. And I think I was trying to find out who I was and I was trying to be the cool kid and I've never been the cool kid. And so I made some choices that were not healthy choices. I was, I would.

During that time, my parents had divorced just previously. My sister and brother went to live with my mom. I stayed with my dad. And I very selfishly kind of felt a little bit of this burden lifted because I felt like I had to somehow help parent my younger siblings. which that was something I took on myself. It's not something anybody told me I had to do, but we were taught to watch out.

for each other and so I took that to an extreme. in that season, I was like, I don't have to do that. So here we go. And so it was kind of this crazy season of trying to figure out who I was, a series of bad decisions that had consequences. But.

I have later found out I have taught me to be very empathetic to the students who I serve and who I've been blessed to serve. And I feel like all of that was preparing me to have empathy and have a point of compassion whenever I have conversations with students, especially when they are dealing with their bad choices and the consequences of their bad choices.

of course, I wish in some ways that I was a different story, I don't think I could be the professor, the person, the friend that I am now had I not had those experiences. And so I don't believe that God

Shane (14:02)
Yeah.

Shelly Meyers (14:06)
allows us to go through things just to go through things. There's always a purpose at the end of it. And we may not know what that is for a very long time. And I'm even finding that out now with, you know, I have a daughter who is a freshman, I have a son who is 21. And there are ways that I can talk to them now. And had I not had those experiences, I wouldn't have that point of empathy with them. And so I think it's helped me to be a better parent too.

Shane (14:34)
Well, so speaking about God's hand being on circumstances, will you tell us about the airplane airport scenario and meeting a guy? Tell us more about that.

Shelly Meyers (14:47)
Okay, so full disclosure, I was running away. I was in a relationship that was toxic and I needed to go somewhere. And so I was running away from Missouri to Alaska. My aunt and uncle lived in Juneau at the time with my cousins and...

The plan was I was going to go up there and finish my degree there. so my mom takes me to the airport. This is pre -9 -11, so she could still come to the gate with me. We go and there's this group of soldier boys who are all like, you can tell because of their haircuts and all of that. And my mom is like, checking out all the boys. And I'm like, gee mom, like, what are you doing? She's like, ooh, that one's cute. And I was like,

He's pretty cute, you know? And so, I just let it go. I'm just getting on this plane. I'm focused on other things. But she was checking out. And so, we get on the plane, and I have the window seat. I sit down. trying to get settled. And the guys are kind of going past me. And then one of them stops right in front of me. And I'm like, no.

gosh, here we go. So I was like, hi. And like my voice cracks and breaks and he was like, hello. And so he sits down and we start this super awkward conversation. He was nervous, I was nervous. And I was like, we're getting ready to take off. I make the most stupid comment ever. I'm like, when I was little, I wanted to be a race car driver. What? Like where did that?

Shane (16:18)
you

You

Shelly Meyers (16:39)
like it was totally like nervous banter he just kind of looks to me like and he was like how old are you and i'm like i'm a junior he goes in high school

Shane (16:42)
yeah.

no.

Shelly Meyers (16:51)
I'm like in college and he was like, and then we like start talking. So we talk all the way, like that kind of broke the ice a little bit. And so now we're like, we start talking like, honestly, this goes back to the football thing. So honestly, it was, he was like, I was like, so do you like football? He's like, yeah, like football. goes, what teams do you like? I'm like, so I'm like, well, I'm a Rams fan. He goes, do you like the Chiefs? I'm like, no.

and he's like, I go, do you like the Saints? He goes, no. I'm like, okay, we can continue this conversation now. Because it was like, there were parameters, you know? And so, there were like.

Shane (17:21)
you

You

Yep, some boundaries you will not cross in a relationship.

Shelly Meyers (17:35)
There were parameters and of course my whole family are like chiefs fans now and so and some of them kind of were before that but I was a die hard Rams fan at the time and so he's a Raiders fan and now we're both Panthers fan. God help us and so but that was like that was like, okay, we can be friends, know, and so we just start talking this is like We go to Seattle his buddies take off and go see the city

He stays in the airport with me. We just kind of walk around.

He buys me a hot chocolate and fat pretzel and stole my heart and we get like I remember like writing in my diary I think I found my soul mate not even knowing you know what that really meant and we start writing letters postcards he gets an email address email it was still like you know we still had the modem so he learns how to email so that we can email each other we kept all of those letters and they're like in a binder and so

Shane (18:28)
Yes. Yes.

Shelly Meyers (18:38)
Every once in a while, one of us will show up with a letter, but our kids have caught onto it. So anytime we travel, we hide letters for each other. And so it's become kind of a game now. And my sister has it from you.

Shane (18:46)
Mm -hmm.

So listeners have picked up now that this is your husband.

Shelly Meyers (18:53)
Yes, and now this is my husband. And we'll be married 25 years in December.

Shane (18:56)
So I have a clarifying question.

congratulations. That's big. Was this one of the soldiers you remember specifically your mom pointing out saying, there's a cute one.

Shelly Meyers (19:10)
Yes, yes. So I remembered seeing him and I was like, he's so far out of my league. there's like, mom, please, like you can, you whatever.

Shane (19:11)
It was, okay.

Mm -hmm.

Shelly Meyers (19:22)
but we got engaged over a misunderstanding. I thought, I thought he proposed to me.

Shane (19:27)
Tell me about that.

Tell what happened.

Shelly Meyers (19:34)
And it was one of those... So he made a comment and I thought it was a proposal. And I get off the phone and I go downstairs and I tell my mom, like, I think I just got engaged. And she was like, what? Like you need to be sure about that. And I'm like, she's like, you need to call him back and make sure. And so I call him back and I'm like, did you just propose to me? He was like, no. And I was like, okay.

Shane (19:41)
Hmm.

You

Shelly Meyers (20:02)
He's like, why do you want to get married? And I'm like, I don't know. Do you want to get married? And he was like, I, yeah, I guess. Do you want to? And I was like, I guess. He's like, I guess we're going to get married. And I was like, my God. It was like this again with the awkwardness, like, yes. So for all of you out there who are like, I'm the most awkward person, there's hope. There's hope.

Shane (20:15)
Wow.

You

Yes.

Shelly Meyers (20:31)
so we decided to get married that December. So we get married in December. This is right before my student teaching semester. So I was not.

He deployed to Bosnia in March and then I moved to Colorado right after I graduated in May. He got back in October. So we were married for 10 months before we ever lived together. And then we started our life together. So there we are.

Shane (20:55)
Yeah.

another question with this too because you said you were coming out of some toxic relationships and you shared online that you met Ernest. He said early on that he's a Christian. What kind of differences could you tell in Ernest from the other guys that you had dated with him being a Christian?

Shelly Meyers (21:09)
Yes.

He, okay, first of all, I think he might've said it as a line, like, but, yeah, yeah. But I totally bit. And so, because that was what I wanted, I wanted it so desperately, I wanted it so desperately. I had been going to church with my friend Emily and I was really kind of soaking up everything that the pastor was dishing out. And I was like,

Shane (21:26)
Like a pick -up

Shelly Meyers (21:48)
And after spending time in Alaska and seeing what a godly marriage looked like with my aunt and uncle, I wanted that so bad. Like that was really, that has to be like one of the most pivotal points in my walk with God was like I saw what it could be and I wanted it. And I was like, I need to know how to get that. And so they really ministered to me in their model of a Christian marriage. And I was like, that is what I want. when,

Like him saying that to me and me seeing what it looked like, that was all God's timing in that. And then so I get back, still plugged into my church family there. I really, like I stopped a whole lot of the things that I was doing. I got out of the other relationship. I was just like, this is really what I want. And if this man is, if he's serious about this, this is what I want. And it turns out he was serious about it. Now that's not to say we haven't had

Shane (22:24)
Hmm.

Shelly Meyers (22:48)
ups and downs like every other marriage. But we, at the core of it, we have kept Jesus in our relationship and we pray for one another and we pray for our kids. you know, we, when it comes down to it, we, you know, support each other in that walk. And we, you know, the kids, at one point my daughter asked me, she said, do you love me or daddy more? And I was like, I love daddy more. And she's like, what?

Shane (23:14)
You

Shelly Meyers (23:18)
And I was like, yeah, I'm like, you're gonna grow up and leave one day. I love daddy more and I love God more than I love daddy. And she was like, wow. And so that was one of those, like, I felt like we needed to teach our kids what a godly marriage was, by the way we treat one another. And my kids are like, you two are so gross because we are, we still flirt with each other. Like we still, you know, hold hands. We still, you know, he'll kiss me in front of them.

Shane (23:41)
Mm -hmm.

Shelly Meyers (23:48)
like you two are so gross and so I just I'm like yeah well you'll get over it.

Shane (23:48)
Yeah.

Yes, and they will be grateful for the stability that that gives them your love for each other. Well, you also said online about you and Ernest that now you both have a ministry field. You say it's a ministry field and working with students. So what is that like? I'd like to hear now about your career, your heart for working with college students.

Shelly Meyers (23:57)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so the bulk of my career has been spent with undergraduate students. Only recently have I started working with graduate students. so working with undergraduate students, particularly in teacher education, but also serving as a dean, working in higher ed, you get to see students go from who

They are according to who their parents wanted to be and to becoming the person that God is intending for them to be as a result of all of that. And they are making very serious, intentional decisions and we get to walk with them through that. And for the students who tell me that they're a Christian,

When we sit down and we have these conversations, if they come in during office hours or whatever, I would say, okay, you've got this problem. Do you want me to talk to you like a professor or do you want me to talk to you as a Christian? And I let them choose that perspective because I need to know where their heart is at that point because there's only so much you can receive depending on where you are. And so most of the time they will say, talk to me like a Christian.

Shane (25:37)
Mm

Shelly Meyers (25:45)
And then I can, that opens the door for, okay, if this is really the decision that you wanna make, what does God say about this? Like where can we find some guidance here? Or in my experience, this is how God led me through a decision like this. And so it kind of opens up that door. And so it isn't that we have a separate ministry, it's that we've used the field that God has given us in that. And so on my husband's side, he worked in,

in sports information at the same institution that I previously was at. And so he got to be with them and just be a kind spirit and just, you know, be the guy that they, you know, because the school was mostly athletic students and most mostly student athletes and they would, you know, he would get to see them in their element and that he, you know, they would see each other during game days and that sort of thing. And so he got to connect with them.

Shane (26:19)
okay.

Shelly Meyers (26:43)
And most of them knew that we were married and some of them figured it out later. And so it just added another connection point. And there were some that he was mentoring, some that I was mentoring, some of them that they would come together. We would have Thanksgiving at our house and we would both get to pray over them or whatever that might be. And so we kind of just use the field that God gave us to do that.

Shane (26:46)
Hmm.

Shelly Meyers (27:12)
Now, working with career changers and graduate students and being in an online forum, particularly at Voorhees University, we're a Christian institution. And so I can be very open about my faith. And just in the short time that I have been there, I've had students have to deal with some very serious things.

First week of school, I had a student who had a baby. The next week of school, I had a student who was dealing with a possible miscarriage and another one who had a death in the family. And so it's like, you know, people have lives that are happening in the background and you don't get to shut that out just because they have an assignment due. You have to love them where they are and extend some grace and help them through these very life.

changing pivotal kinds of things that are happening in their life.

Shane (28:07)
There is never an easy place to cut an interview in half, but we will pause there and stay tuned for next week. We'll have part two of my interview with Shelly. If you'd like to read more about Shelly, you can go online right now to meettheprof.com and find her. You can look her up by name and as well as any other professors on college campuses that you know of and hear some more of their spiritual journeys. So if you're a Christian,

Professor, would you consider putting your own story on meettheprof.com? You can go to the website and see a place to submit a profile. If you are a college student, please check us out on Instagram, Meet the Prof Official, and feel free to leave us a question there for Christian professors. Hopefully we can use it on the show. So, so thankful that you joined us. And if you're interested in supporting this ministry financially, you can give online at www.give.cru.org/0424344.

So thanks again and until next time, we hope this encourages you to have a Christ-centered conversation on your college campus.