• Faith: Christian
• Career: Coach
• Birthday:  November 25, 1940

Joe Gibbs is a former football coach and auto racing team owner. He served two stints as the head coach of the Washington Redskins from 1981 to 1992 and then from 2004 to 2007. Gibbs led the team to nine playoff appearances, four NFC Championship titles and three Super Bowl wins over 16 seasons. In 1982 and 1983, Gibbs was named NFL Coach of the Year and is the only head coach to have won Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks.

Gibbs and his family founded the NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992, which has since won five NASCAR championships. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020, the only member of both. Gibbs was also voted onto the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Gibbs was born in Mocksville, North Carolina, the oldest of two sons. He graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1959 and played quarterback.

He attended Cerritos College before earning a bachelor’s degree in 1964 and a master’s from San Diego State University in 1966. Gibbs started his career in 1964, coaching offensive linemen under Don Coryell for the San Diego State Aztecs football team. He served two years at Florida State, USC, and Arkansas. Then, Gibbs advanced to the NFL, where he was hired as the offensive backfield coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. After a season as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Gibbs rejoined Coryell with the San Diego Chargers in 1979.

Gibbs created his NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, in 1992, a year before he first retired from the NFL. The first driver for his team was Dale Jarrett, with the sponsor Interstate Batteries and the number 18. His son, J.D. Gibbs, was the president of Joe Gibbs Racing, overseeing the daily operations of each team since his father’s return to the NFL. Tragically, J.D. Gibbs passed away in 2019 from complications following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. Driver Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 the same year and dedicated the win to J.D. in his post-race celebration.

The team currently fields four full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series and three full-time entries in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

What religion is Joe Gibbs?

Gibbs identifies as a Christian. Testing and adversity have followed Gibbs as much as success; they’re usually interwoven. However, through it all, Gibbs has leaned on his relationship with God, trusting the Lord regardless of whether he could make sense of the trials. During an interview with Decision magazine, Gibbs said, “So many times, we don’t have the answer. Sometimes, when we go through tough things, we can’t see God at the time, but we know He’s there. He’s always there.”

Gibbs continued, “I’m convinced that someday, it may be when I stand before the Lord, He’ll explain it to me.” When discussing his family’s trials and tribulations, like J.D.’s brain disease, Gibbs said, “When you go through stuff like that, it’s a traumatic thing. You realize the only thing you really have is your faith.”