Average Joe: One Man's Faith and the Fight to Change a Nation

The football coach who fought all the way to Supreme Court for his right to pray shares his inspiring story of courage, redemption, and grace.

When Coach Joe Kennedy started offering a prayer on the field after each high school football game, the school district tried to shut him down, launching a seven-year legal battle that went to the Supreme Court—twice. In June 2022, he won.

Average Joe is the story of an unlikely champion of religious freedom. A former atheist, Kennedy never imagined he’d lead the defense of Americans’ First Amendment rights. He certainly didn’t intend to be at odds with his wife, who was the school district’s personnel director. But his love for God and country and his never-say-die courage landed this former Marine in the fight of his life.

The victory in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District opened the door for thousands of previously settled cases regarding public prayer to be reexamined with a friendlier eye to personal religious expression.

Average Joe: The Coach Joe Kennedy Story is a compelling personal account of his troubled youth, what he learned in the Marines, the lessons he instills in his players, his faith in God, and his love for his family. It’s a story that will inspire readers to live more boldly.

Joseph (Joe) Kennedy was adopted as an infant and later practically abandoned by his adoptive parents. He spent time at a state-run boys’ home where he first connected with God, but he still felt like an outsider most of his years—until the U.S. Marine Corps gave him a purpose. After serving for eighteen years, Kennedy’s military career ended with an IED blast in the Middle East.

Married to his childhood crush, Denise, Kennedy is the father of four, including two sons who have also served in the Marines.

Kennedy will be reinstated at Bremerton High School in August 2023. He considers his seven-year long battle for his constitutional right to pray where he chooses to be the greatest fight of his life; he now speaks nationwide about his love of country and simple faith in God.