John MacArthur Was Never an All-American Football Player Recruited by NFL Teams as Claimed for Over 40 Years

I have written numerous articles about John MacArthur that document his serial lying, abusive leadership, and craving for greatness.  The man should not be in Christian ministry.  He has taught truth but lived many grandiose lies.  Those who disagree have not examined the evidence. 

Dustin Faulkner has written an excellent article entitled Examining John MacArthur’s Football Claims (Sep. 2, 2019).  I’d encourage everyone to read it.  I am using his research but writing to make plain the audacious lies MacArthur has told regarding his football career.  I’ve also added research of my own. 

I have never seen a Christian leader make up so many legendary tales about himself as John MacArthur.  This is a pervasive and long-standing pattern.  In this article, I am focusing on his claim to be an All-America halfback highly recruited by numerous NFL teams including the World Champion Cleveland Browns.   

Paul Warfield is #42 in the second row (4^th from left).  Jim Brown is #32 in third row (2^nd from right).

Bob Jones University
1957-1959 

John MacArthur played sports at Culter High School in Los Angeles, CA.  He graduated in 1957 and went to Bob Jones University (BJU) in Greenville, SC for two years.  BJU did not have any athletic teams including a football team.  He was in a “horrific car accident” after his freshman year and “had to lie in my bed on my stomach for about three months.”  He played no competitive sports during his two years at BJU.  They had no sports teams. 

Los Angeles Pacific College
1959-1961  

MacArthur says he left Bob Jones University to play football at Los Angeles Pacific College (L.A.P.C.) which was starting a football program.  It was a very small Christian girls college in east Los Angeles that opened up to male enrollment the year he transferred.  

He states the school “recruited me like crazy for football.”  At the same time, he supposedly turned down “an opportunity” to play at the nationally recognized football powerhouse University of Southern California (USC). 

MacArthur gives the impression he was offered a scholarship to play at Los Angeles Pacific College but the program had no money.  No one was “recruited…like crazy” with scholarship offers.  This quote from the 1960 yearbook comes from the captain of the football team. 

“From every viewpoint this has been a pioneer year; Jim Brownfield has been a pioneer coach.  Working under shortages of time, finances, number of players and countless other handicaps, he patiently forged through, leading us to a winning and thrilling season. … No man has had a greater hand making the beginning of football at L.A.P.C. a resounding reality than Coach Jim Brownfield.” (Don Robertson, Captain) 

MacArthur’s first year at Los Angeles Pacific College was his junior year in college having transferred from Bob Jones University.  He was one of the worst players on the team.  He played in two games and ran the ball one time for three yards.  He was awful compared to the five other running backs.  Moreover, his junior year the team only played give games.  He wore the #97 jersey.  Here is the evidence. It comes from the 1960 yearbook on page 71.

 

Scouted By Professional Teams & Goes to Washington Redskins Training Camp 

During these two years at Los Angeles Pacific College, MacArthur claims he had “some opportunities to play professionally both in football and baseball” and “was scouted by some professional teams and I talked to them and I went to the Washington Redskins football training camp.”  

Here’s the evidence.  It comes from an interview MacArthur did when he was 40 years old.  There were no issues of memory loss or confusion.  Nor are they the embellishments of an old man in decline.  The bold print is mine for focus.     

Personal Interview with John MacArthur
June 15, 1979
Pages 1, 2, 3

Well, I pretty much was raised in the southern California area, and so I attended [Culter High] school here.  I spent my time in college, early in my college years, two years at Bob Jones University and then completed my college education at Los Angeles Pacific College. … 

I came to college days and I became very involved in athletics.  And in the times that I was involved in sports I received a tremendous measure of fulfillment and thought for quite a while that I’d like to be a professional athlete.  I did have some opportunities to play professionally both in football and baseball. … 

And in the midst of that athletic career, I reconsidered a childhood dream to be a professional athlete.  And I opened myself to that.  I was scouted by some professional teams and I talked to them and I went to the Washington Redskins football training camp. 

MacArthur was not “very involved in athletics” at Bob Jones University because “they didn’t have any athletics.”  He is making these claims based upon his two years at Los Angeles Pacific College. 

First, he says he had “opportunities to play professionally in football and baseball” – not simply to try out but to actually play. 

Second, he “was scouted by some professional teams.”  That means professional scouts came to watch him play at L.A.P.C.  For example, Washington Redskins scouts traveled across the country to California to visit a know-nothing football team in an obscure conference to study MacArthur’s two year “athletic career.”  

Then based upon their scouting, he was invited to the Washington Redskins training camp.  He didn’t go to watch.  He went to participate.  This supposedly occurred between his junior and senior year.  

Here is more evidence from an interview he did with Phil Johnson twenty five years later in 2004.  For decades MacArthur has been fond of telling his staff, church, college and seminary students, and followers these legendary tales.    

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony
February 9, 2004 
Pages 7-8, 9 

PHIL: Right.  So, you went to college.  You went to a Christian college. 

JOHN: I did.  My dad wanted me to go to Bob Jones University.  I didn’t want to go; I wanted to play football and baseball and basketball, and they didn’t have any athletics. 

PHIL: Was it difficult giving up sports?  I mean that was a priority for you. 

JOHN: Well, that was very difficult.  It was very difficult.  I mean I – in my high school days, I basically, you know, lived to compete and – 

PHIL: How many sports did you play? 

JOHN: Well, I played – in high school – football, baseball, basketball, and I ran track; I was a sprinter. 

PHIL: And from what I hear, you did excel in football. 

JOHN: Well, I got a – I got a lot of scholarship offers in basketball, football, even baseball.  And I –

PHIL: So, you turned down scholarship offers in order to go to a school – 

JOHN: Right, with no athletic program. 

If MacArthur “got a lot of scholarship offers” to play collegiate football he would have dominated as a running back on the L.A.P.C. team.  Remember, he played in two games and ran the ball one time for three yards his junior year.  Five other running backs on the team far exceeded him in every statistical category.   

Furthermore, he claims to have turned down lots of college scholarships in football, basketball, and baseball as a premier high school athlete.  Surely, he could have contacted those schools if he wanted to play sports again.  Instead, he went to L.A.P.C to play football at a historic girls school in a new program with only one coach.  That makes no sense.  

Also notice Bob Jones University “didn’t have any athletics.”  MacArthur played no competitive sports during his first two years in college.  And yet he claims the University of Southern California recruited him and tried to get him to transfer to play football his junior year.  

More evidence from the same interview.  

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony
February 9, 2004 
Page 9 

PHIL: So, after two years of Bob Jones University what happened? 

JOHN: Well, the short version is I transferred to Pacific College for a number of reasons.  One, they had recruited me like crazy for football, and they would take my – the second reason, they would take my credits from Bob Jones, which were not transferable to anyplace because they were a non-accredited school.

PHIL: So, you didn’t have to start over.

JOHN: I didn’t have to start over.  I had an opportunity to go to USC [University of Southern California] and play football there, but they wouldn’t take any credits.  And so I said, “I can’t go back and do my whole education.”

So, they [L.A.P.C.] wanted me badly to play football.  They had developed a pretty extensive football program.  They had a great basketball program and baseball program, but they wanted me to participate in everything, which is what I had wanted to do. 

These are false statements.  Los Angeles Pacific College did not have “a pretty extensive football program.”  It was just starting.  It was an unknown college program.  It was bottom of the rung competition in a Division III conference.  MacArthur is exaggerating to make it sound like it was a football powerhouse similar to the University of Southern California.  

Los Angeles Pacific College may have recruited MacArthur because they were desperate to field a team but it was not because he had an illustrious record.  He had not played football during his freshman and sophomore years at Bob Jones University and he supposedly had a life-threatening injury after his freshman year (more on that in a subsequent article). 

Most importantly, the University of Southern California is not going to recruit someone at Bob Jones University who hasn’t played football for two years. 

Attends Washington Redskins Training Camp After Junior Year at L.A.P.C. (1960) 

After his three yards on one carry in two games junior year at L.A.P.C., MacArthur claims he attended the Washington Redskins training camp. 

This evidence comes from an interview he did with Rick Holland in 2009.  

A Retrospective on 40 Years: John MacArthur with Rick Holland 
January 25, 2009 

RICK: And you almost went pro in football. 

JOHN: Well, I had the opportunity.  I went to a training camp for the Washington Redskins after my junior year of football.  And later on I received letters on whether they were going to include me in the draft and all of that.  And by the time I graduated I said, “I’m not going to do that.  I know I’m not going to do that.”  So I said I wouldn’t be interested at all.  By then I was fixed on going to seminary. 

This is an extraordinary lie.  MacArthur was not recruited and did not attend the Washington Redskins training camp after his junior year.  He is making it all up.  That is why he has never produced any of the “letters” about drafting him. 

A “Stack of Letters” from Pro Football Teams – Senior Year at L.A.P.C. (1961) 

During his senior year at Los Angeles Pacific College, MacArthur claims he received a “stack” of letters from professional teams asking him to play for them.   He instructed his coach, Jim Brownfield, to tell all of them he was not interested.  He was going to seminary.  

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony
February 9, 2004
Page 11 

PHIL: Did you get it out of your system – the sports? … 

JOHN: I’m just in my college – my last college year of football [1961]. …So, I told my coach – I have – I still have a stack of letters somewhere in a little scrapbook from the football – pro football teams – and I just said, “You know, tell them I’m not going to – I’m not going to play.  I know where God wants me.” 

To date, no records of his senior year have been found. “Official copies of student records, transcripts, and diplomas would all be lost when the college was bulldozed in 1965.”  One cannot overstate how miniscule and unknown the football program at L.A.P.C. was in its second year.  Yet MacArthur claims he has “a stack of letters” from “pro football teams.”  Not from one team but from many teams!  

In 1961 there were 8 teams in the American Football League and 14 teams in National Football League (the two leagues merged in 1970).  But not even 22 letters amounts to a stack.  In any case, he puts himself forward as one of the most coveted players in college football. 

He also instructed his coach to “tell them” he was not going to play in the NFL.  That conveys “pro football teams” were talking to his coach. 

He also instructed his coach to “tell them” he was “not going to play” in the NFL.  That conveys “pro football teams” were talking to his coach.  This story has been told to countless people.  Why?  To impress them.  How?  He turned down a professional football career to serve God.

MacArthur says he “still” has the “letters somewhere in a little scrapbook.”  Yet, he has never produced a single letter to support his claim. 

Voted Collegiate All-American at Halfback – Senior Year at L.A.P.C. (1961) 

In his biography written by Iain Murray, MacArthur claims to have been an All-American.  As a result, he was “solicited by several professional teams. 

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock
Iain H. Murray
Page 15 

During 1959 John learned that he would be able to continue his Bachelor’s degree at Pacific College in Los Angeles, and this led to the decision for him to do his two final years at that institution.  Back home, sports were now resumed and he excelled, especially in football.  He was named in an All-America squad as halfback, and was subsequently solicited by several professional teams to determine his interest in a football career.  But there was now a higher purpose in his view. 

There is no documentation to support this claim.  Murray did not research the claim by MacArthur just like he did not research the claim by MacArthur that he was in the office of Charles Evers, head of the NAACP office in Jackson, MS, the night Martin Luther King Jr.’s  was assassinated.   This is what he wrote in MacArthur’s biography. 

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock
Iain H. Murray 

On the night of April 4 [1968] John was in Jackson, Mississippi, talking with a group that included John Perkins and Charles Evers, the black Mayor of Fayette, whose brother was regarded as the first martyr of the Civil Rights Movement… As they were discussing events a man burst into the room with the news “Martin Luther King has been assassinated.” 

Murray didn’t talked to Perkins or Evers in writing this account.  He wrote journalist Paige Rogers, he “had that information direct from John MacArthur in personal conversation.”  Whatever MacArthur told him he believed.  I’ve brought up to Murray in private his unprofessional approach to MacArthur’s biography. 

MacArthur made himself into a civil rights legend like made himself into a football legend.  Read this article. 

The Fifteen Audacious Lies Told by John MacArthur to Create His Legendary Tale About the Events of April 4, 1968 When Martin Luther King Jr. Was Assassinated  
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 2:11PM 

John MacArthur was never an All-American after his senior year in 1961.  He appears nowhere. 

1961 College Football All-America Team
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_College_Football_All-America_Team …

Nor was he an Associated Press Little All-American (see p. 60) which applies to small college football programs like Los Angeles Pacific College.  

There is no evidence MacArthur was an All-American football player or that he was “subsequently solicited by several professional teams.”  Murray provides no specifics and no evidence for the claim.  Neither has MacArthur over the decades. 

I wrote Phil Johnson this earlier week.  He did not answer.  

From: Brent Detwiler abrentdetwiler@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 3:43 PM
To: Phil Johnson phil@gty.org
Subject: All-American Team? 

Phil, 

Quick question.  What All-American football team was John named to in 1961? 

Thanks,

Brent 

One other point.  Murray says he was an All-American halfback, not wide receiver.  

The Cleveland Browns Call His First Year at Talbot Theological Seminary (1962) 

John attended Bob Jones University from 1957-1959.  He transferred to Los Angeles Pacific College to complete his undergraduate studies from 1959-1961.  He played football there for two years.  After college, he attended Talbot Theological Seminary from 1961-1964.  He married Patricia in August 1963 at the end of his second year in seminary.  During his third year of seminary he also worked for Talbot. In 1964 he was hired by his father Jack to be an associate pastor at Harry MacArthur (grandfather) Memorial Bible Church.

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony
February 9, 2004
Pages 17, 18 

PHIL: So, it was during those years, while you were speaking for Talbot, that you met your wife?  Is that right? 

JOHN: Actually, I met Patricia before I worked for Talbot [1963-1964].  I met Patricia when I was still a seminary student.  We were married at the end of my second year in seminary. I remember taking Patricia to my football games because I wanted her to see me play. … So, it was actually at the end of my college [football] career that we met. … So, we were drawn together as friends.  And we started to date in that little time, and eventually it became very clear that God had brought us together, and August of 1963 we got married. 

The dates above are important for what follows.  

After his freshman year at Talbot Theological Seminary, MacArthur claims the Cleveland Browns from the National Football League called him.  The great Paul Warfield was injured and they wanted MacArthur to replace him.  They made an offer.  MacArthur turned it down. 

Remember this was a year after he finished his “college career” at Los Angeles Pacific College according to his account.  He had not played football for an entire year.  

John MacArthur’s Life Testimony
February 9, 2004
Page 11 

And then I went to seminary [1961-1964].  And after my first seminary year at Talbot, I got a call from the Cleveland Browns [1962].  They had a great wide receiver named Paul Warfield, who had broke his collarbone in the August practice, and they needed another wide receiver, and my name came up.  And I said, “No, I can’t; I’m really – I’m going to stay in seminary and keep doing what I’m doing.” 

This call came in August 1962.  It was after his first year in seminary.  The following August he would marry Patricia.  There is no uncertainty about the dates in MacArthur’s recounting. 

Here’s the problem.  The “great wide receiver named Paul Warfield” wasn’t  drafted until 1964.  Moreover, he broke his collarbone in August 1965, not in August 1962. 

Paul Warflied

As a star halfback in college for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Warfield was twice named to the All-Big Ten Conference team.   He was drafted in the first round of the 1964 NFL Draft by the Browns and converted into a wide receiver. … 

In the 1965 Chicago College All-Star Game, which annually pitted the reigning NFL champion against star college players, Warfield shattered his collarbone and missed the majority of the 1965 season as a result. 

At this time the Cleveland Browns were one of the dominant teams in the NFL.  

History of the Cleveland Browns – Wikipedia 

[Art] Modell fired [coach Paul] Brown before the 1963 season, but the team continued to win behind running back Jim Brown.  The Browns won the championship in 1964 and reached the title game the following season, losing to the Green Bay Packers.  

This is so grievous to read!  MacArthur’s story is a complete hoax!  Paul Warfield broke his collarbone in 1965, not in 1962 when John was in seminary.  John was an associate pastor in his father’s church in 1965.  It had been four years since he played any football.  Feel free to fact check me.  This is NOT a chronological mistake of some sort by him.  This is a foolish and blatant lie.  

MacArthur also says the Cleveland Browns called on him to replace Warfield as a wide receiver.  MacArthur played halfback his junior year.  Iain Murray said he was an All-American at the halfback position his senior year.  But MacArthur would have us believe he was recruited to replace one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history even though he didn’t play the wide receiver position in college. 

Once again he has told this story to countless people.  Why?  To impress.  How?  By telling a manifestly untrue story about turning down the Cleveland Browns to do God’s will.  “No, I can’t; I’m really – I’m going to stay in seminary and keep doing what I’m doing.”

At this point, someone might ask, “Why would John MacArthur make up such outlandish claims?  Surely he knew he would get caught.”  No, I don’t think MacArthur had any fear of getting caught in 1979.  He was not well known.  There was no internet.  There were no websites.  No blogs.  No easy access to historical information.  No fact checking.   He told these lies to his church without fear of discovery.  

But MacArthur is also bold in his lying and when he is exposed surrogates like Phil Johnson verbally attack.  It is vicious and can be withering.  

Who Will Stand Up to Phil Johnson for His Vicious Verbal Attacks Upon Journalist Julie Roys? Certainly Not John MacArthur! 
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:47PM 

Johnson is also a serial liar.  He will stop at nothing.  No deception is beneath him. These are not slanders. They are fully documented charges. 

Phil Johnson Covers Up John MacArthur’s Extraordinary Compensation & Lifestyle in Devious Statement to The Christian Post & Interview with Justin Peters
Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 8:16AM
 
Exposing the Hellacious Lies Advanced by Phil Johnson’s in Interview with Justin Peters about John MacArthur’s Trip to Assassination Site of Martin Luther King Jr.
Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 3:04PM 

The issues with John MacArthur could not be more serious and hardly more numerous.  They involve the cover up of crimes and abusive treatment of victims.  These are not exaggerated statements.  For instance, read some of the recent articles at The Roys Report.  You can also read the one I wrote below. 

John MacArthur/Masters Seminary | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)
 
The Account of John MacArthur & Rick Holland’s Horrific Handling of “Jane’s” Rape in Conjunction with Officials from The Master’s University
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 8:02PM 

Yet leaders around America still support him and minister alongside him.  For example, Ligonier Ministries, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, The Conservative Baptist Network, G3 Ministries, Sovereign Grace Churches, Answers in Genesis, Getty Music, Founders Ministry, etc.  It is an offense to God. 

John MacArthur was not recruited by the University of Southern California, he did not participate in the Washington Redskins training camp, he was not an All-American, and he was never recruited by the Cleveland Browns to replace Paul Warfield.  These are all lies told to create a legend that is entirely false.   

Now at the end of his life the truth about his reproachful character is being made known by the Sovereign Lord.  He is not being persecuted (as he often claims).  He is being brought low by the Almighty.  It is a glory to God.