Tim Tebow's Second Act

In January 2012, Tim Tebow was king of the world. Over the previous fall, as a second-year quarterback, he led the Denver Broncos on a string of six improbable, increasingly narrow victories. The crowning moment came on Jan. 8, in the opening round of the playoffs, when his 80-yard touchdown pass in overtime capped an upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was peak Tebow: Poster-boy looks, Christian devotion, and athletic prowess wrapped into one American hero.

That month, according to the marketing research firm Repucom, Tebow equaled Michael Jordan and David Beckham as a celebrity endorser. More than three-quarters of the American public knew his name and face, which put him at the level of Joe Namath. Only Oprah Winfrey and Kate Middleton held more influence out of the more than 2,300 celebrities in Repucom’s database. Tebow also ranked in the top 20 for trust, trend-setting, and aspiration—a measure of how much survey takers wanted to be like him. At 24 years old and with a short professional record, he had established a major presence in the American mind.