• Faith: Christian - Catholic
• Career: Athlete
• Birthday:  December 08, 1981

Philip Rivers is a former football quarterback who played in the NFL for 17 seasons, mainly with the Chargers. He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack and was selected fourth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the New York Giants, who traded him to the San Diego Chargers for Eli Manning during the draft. Rivers played for the Chargers for 16 seasons and played his last season for the Indianapolis Colts. Since 2021, he's served as the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School.

After spending his first two seasons as a backup, Rivers served as the Chargers' starting quarterback from 2006 to 2019. During his tenure, he was named to eight Pro Bowls while leading the team to six postseason appearances and four division titles. He also helped the franchise win their first playoff game since 1994 and reach the AFC Championship Game during the 2007 season. In 2020, with the Colts, he reached the playoffs for a seventh time. However, he was less successful in the postseason and never made a Super Bowl appearance. Rivers retired fifth all-time in touchdowns and passing yards, both of which are the highest-ranking among quarterbacks without Super Bowl appearances.

He's also second all-time in consecutive regular-season starts by a quarterback, having started every regular-season game between 2006 and 2020. Rivers is considered among the greatest quarterbacks to have never played in a Super Bowl. Rivers was born in Alabama, where his father, Steve, was the head coach of Decatur High School's football team and his mother, Joan, was a teacher. As part of a fifth-grade project, he had to make a poster about his aspirations and dreams. On the poster, he put his face over that of a Minnesota Vikings player who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His first start in an official game was in 1994 when he was in seventh grade.

Since the ninth grade, Rivers has worn the number 17 jersey in honor of his dad, who wore the same number in high school. After his father got the head coach job, Rivers played high school football at Athens High School in nearby Athens. As his senior season advanced, Rivers established himself as the best prep passer in the state. He had offers from Alabama and Auburn, but neither projected him as a starting quarterback, so he rejected them to go to a program where he would have more playing time. North Carolina State was the first college to recruit Rivers seriously as a quarterback, and Joe Pate convinced him and his parents to consider graduating from high school in December 1999.

What religion is Philip Rivers?

Rivers is a devout Roman Catholic and says it's been a central part of his life. He grew up in a Catholic environment, attended a Catholic school and currently coaches at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama. He credited his faith to his parents and attending Catholic school, saying, "Being at a Catholic high school, [our faith] is part of the very fabric of our football program, and certainly a part of the mission of the school. Getting to be at a Catholic high school and coach these young men, we talk about the 'whole young man' all the time: spiritually, physically, emotionally, academically."