Meet football’s Catholic first family

Jim Harbaugh made a surprise appearance at the annual March for Life in Washington, DC last Friday, just a couple of weeks after he won the college football national championship as the head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines. Harbaugh marched alongside about 100,000 other pro-lifers in the snowy cold and gave an impassioned speech to the crowd while introducing former NFL player Benjamin Watson.  

“Thank you all for being here. It’s a great example that you’re setting. It’s testimony for the sanctity of life.” Harbaugh said. “It’s a great day for a march… This is football weather!”

“You know, we all talk about human rights. There’s really no rights that are important unless you have the right to life,” Harbaugh told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier in the day. 

Harbaugh’s appearance at the march surprised many, But as a lifelong Baltimore Ravens fan — coached by Jim’s brother, John — I’ve been telling everyone I know about this pro-life, Catholic football family for as long as I can remember.

The Harbaughs have always been pretty outspoken about their beliefs, even when they receive backlash. Jim spoke at a Right to Life event shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, telling attendees, “To me, the right choice is to have the courage to let the unborn be born.” 

Jemele Hill, a former ESPN host, tweeted “This might be a difficult concept for Jim Harbaugh of any anti-choice person to grasp… but if you don’t want an abortion, just don’t get one. Not that hard.”

Palmer Report, a left-wing Twitter account, demanded Harbaugh be fired from his coaching position at U of M. 

Charlotte Clymer, a man who claims to be a woman and a fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for Politics and Public Service, demanded Harbaugh help born babies if he truly believes in the sanctity of life. 

Jim Harbaugh is clearly unbothered by hate he receives for being pro-life and a faithful Catholic, and he has also consistently put his money where his mouth is. Harbaugh has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to youth causes in Michigan and has told members of his team that he will help them handle unplanned pregnancies. 

“I encourage them if they have a pregnancy that wasn’t planned to go through with it, let that unborn child be born, and if at that time you don’t feel like you can care for it, you don’t have the means or wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby,” Harbaugh said. “Any player on our team, any female staff member or anybody in our family… we got a big house. We’ll raise that baby.” 

Harbaugh’s inspiring leadership clearly rubbed off on his team; when players were interviewed after the national championship game, they all were quick to mention the importance of their teammates, their coach, and the culture of the football program at U of M. Some of them also proudly mentioned their own faith.

Jim Harbaugh has just accepted a position to coach the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, putting him once again in the same league as his brother, John. The Harbaugh brothers previously faced off against one another in Super Bowl XLVII when Jim was coaching the San Francisco 49ers.

John won that match-up, and will lead the Ravens in the AFC championship against the Kansas City Chiefs this Saturday. After defeating the Houston Texans in the divisional round, Harbaugh opened his post-game press conference with a Bible verse.

“‘Greatness, power, glory, victory, and honor belong to you because everything in Heaven and Earth belongs to you. The kingdom belongs to you, Lord. You are the head and the Ruler over everything,’” he recited. “Just want to give honor and glory where it’s due.” 

On Monday, the official Baltimore Ravens X account posted a clip of Harbaugh talking about the importance of his faith: 

“One thing that’s important here, and we’ve always been this way, is that everybody expresses who they are and can be who they are freely and without apology,” Harbaugh says. “If faith is who you are and a part of your life then it’s welcomed. I don’t try to hide that from my perspective of who I am. It’s sustained me, it’s improved me greatly over the years, it’s the only thing that really does change your heart in my opinion.” 

“The more I trust God, the better I get. I’m not ashamed of that,” he concluded. 

Outside of their outspokenness about traditional values, faith, family, and life, the Harbaughs are just a heck of a lot of fun. How can you not love Jim declaring in an interview, “[Darth Vader’s] my boy… he’s relentless, he’s a jackhammer,” or John dancing like a drunk uncle in the locker room?

Then there’s the Harbaugh parents: Jack, a longtime college football coach himself, and his wife, Jackie. Jack was recently seen in the Ravens locker room belting out the Harbaughs’ signature question, “Who’s got it better than us?” Jack and Jackie also delighted in a recent interview after a U of M win: 

“Are you kidding me?! They won!” Jackie yelled. “What’s better than that?!”

Daily Wire host Matt Walsh recently argued, “A lot of conservatives have dismissed football as ‘woke,’ and certainly there are some annoying woke elements in the NFL, but it also has the most conservative and religious players in all of professional sports outside of the UFC.” 

There’s plenty of “woke” bullshit still in the NFL, such as the New England Patriots’ new coach Jerod Mayo declaring “I do see color” because “I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism” and players kneeling for the national anthem. But you also have Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles chiding the media for focusing so much on race. 

“We coach ball, we don’t look at color,” Bowles said. “I think the minute that you guys stop making a big deal about it everybody else will as well.’ 

Count the Harbaughs as another good reason to keep watching.