!["My life was in danger," Pam Tebow revealed. “When [my doctor] delivered Timmy, he said it was the biggest miracle he had ever been a part of."](https://media.firstcoastnews.com/assets/WTLV/images/1d23e709-96b4-4730-b953-8423fc0e1c9e/1d23e709-96b4-4730-b953-8423fc0e1c9e_1920x1080.jpg)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla — It's the 33rd birthday of one of Jacksonville's favorite sons: football superstar, professional baseball player and philanthropist Tim Tebow.
To celebrate, we're taking a look at some of our favorite moments from his career and how he's given back to the community.
Outreach projects through the Tim Tebow Foundation
In 2019, Tebow devoted his birthday to helping 150 children in the Philippines in need of critical surgeries to treat conditions like cleft lip, clubfoot, bowed legs, untreated burns and hydrocephalus.
The foundation also hosts the annual Night to Shine, a prom for kids with special needs in Jacksonville and around the world. The kids get the royal treatment -- free hair and makeup, shoeshine stations, corsages and boutonnieres, limo rides, a red-carpet intro and of course, dancing, food and fun.
His miraculous start to life
Tebow's mother, Pam, says when she was pregnant with her son, her doctor said her life was in danger and she should terminate the pregnancy, saying that "he wasn't really a baby, he was a mass of fetal tissue."
But she held on and delivered "Little Timmy," who grew to be the largest in stature and most well known of the five Tebow children.
“When [my doctor] delivered Timmy, he said it was the biggest miracle he had ever been a part of," Pam Tebow said. "He had never seen anything like it and he couldn’t explain it. There was just a tiny piece of placenta that was attached to him and he said there was no explanation for how he survived all of those months in the womb.”
Marrying Miss Universe
About a year after getting engaged, the Heisman Trophy winner and former Florida Gator quarterback tied the knot with Demi Leigh Nel-Peters, 2017's Miss Universe, in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2020, according to People Magazine.
The couple's relationship has been well documented over social media, including the time they turned to Twitter for help coming up with a wedding hashtag.
College football career
Oh, that's right -- there's that other thing Tebow is known for: a legendary football career at the University of Florida that elevated the Nease High School grad to Hometown Hero status.
Tebow was the first ever sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, which he did in 2007. He also led the Gators to victory in two national championships, defeating Ohio State in 2006 and Oklahoma in 2008.
In 2018, Tebow was inducted into the University of Florida Football's Ring of Honor. In 2017, he joined the Florida Sports Hall of Fame induction class at Sawgrass Marriott.
Professional career
Drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010, Tebow spent several years on the rosters of several teams in the NFL, mainly as a backup. He started the last three games of his rookie season and served as full-time starting quarterback in 2011 before he was traded to the Jets in 2012. He was released and later signed with the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, but did not get any play time in with either team.
That led to a transition from a career in football to trying his hand at baseball.
In his Minor League Baseball debut playing for the New York Mets' Double-A affiliate, the Columbia Fireflies, in 2017, Tebow silenced the haters with a home run in his very first at-bat. The Fireflies went on to win the game against the Augusta GreenJackets, 14 to 7.
Tebow remains a part of the New York Mets organization, but has not been able to play this season due to the cancellation of MiLB games this year.
Just being like, a really all-around good guy
There was the time he showed up at an Orlando Walmart and started paying people's layaway bills just before Christmas in 2014.
Or the time he went to visit a high school teammate in the hospital after the Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando, when Rodney Sumter was shot while bartending.
On his Instagram account, Sumter wrote: “My high school quarterback left the Bahamas to come and see me. Tebow has always been an awesome person.”
And then there was the time Tebow recruited the opposing team's bat boy during a Birmingham Rumble Ponies game against the Trenton Thunder, because Tebow "loved his energy" and wanted to take part.
(Oh and he owns a really awesome $1.4 million home in Jacksonville.)
There are countless stories to share about all the reasons Tim Tebow's life is worth celebrating. We hope you'll join us in wishing him a happy birthday!