The heartbeat of Purdue: Chaplain Marty Dittmar’s lasting reach

Gene Keady stormed out of the locker room.

Purdue had just lost a double overtime game to Indiana. And the Boiler coach was hot.

“Marty!” Keady shouted as he walked past Purdue chaplain Marty Dittmar in the hallway. “Get in there! Carl Landry needs you!”

Landry had missed a free throw in regulation that could have given the Boilermakers the victory. He missed.

“He needed me,” said Dittmar.

Tough times, good times, Dittmar has been wherever Purdue athletes have needed him. That’s just who he is. He has been ubiquitous around Purdue athletics for almost 30 years, heading up the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes program in addition to his chaplain duties.

Dittmar is scaling back his involvement. Why? He’s 73. He’s not retiring. But he deserves to be celebrated.

“As long as I’m healthy, I’ll stay involved in some way,” he said. “I may do less, but I won’t fully stop.”

Dittmar’s work is never done.

Sidelines, airplanes, buses, coffee shops, hotels, locker rooms, Dittmar helps athletes and coaches navigate the crucible of big-time athletics—and the pressures of life. He mission statement is simple.

“Our desire is to bring every coach, every athlete and those around the program into a vibrant relationship with Jesus,” said Dittmar.

It’s all about making a connection. And Dittmar certainly has in an ever-shifting cultural landscape.

“Social media has created more insecurity,” said Dittmar. “The transfer portal has reduced loyalty to programs. But human nature hasn’t changed—people still face the same core struggles.”

COFFEE SHOP TALK

Napkin evangelism. That’s what Marty Dittmar calls it.

Sitting across the table from an athlete at Einstein Bagels on Northwestern Avenue, Dittmar scribbles scripture and thoughts on anything available—usually a napkin.

“Whatever I could find,” fessed Dittmar.

The athlete takes the napkin home and puts it in their Bible. Another piece of napkin evangelism. Hey, it works.

Over the years, Dittmar has sipped java—he likes his with a splash of cream—with athletes in the coffee shops that dot campus and Lafayette. The cozy, quiet hangouts are a de facto office.

“Usually met on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” he said.

It is one-on-one discipleship, a chance to connect with an athlete who may be feeling the pressure of life, a death, academic struggles, relationship breakup, athletic struggles … you name it.

Another way he connects: Weekly FCA meetings centered around the Bible called “huddles,” which are open to all and take place in the Spurgeon Club in Mackey Arena.

“We’re going through the book of Matthew now,” said Dittmar. “We usually do a fun activity at the beginning, some kind of game or something. Then, we break up into the small groups, and an athlete will lead each Bible study. We come back together, we share prayer requests, and we pray together.”

And Marty and wife Brenda open their house for regular meals/meetings, too: “Carbonara Bible Study,” he calls it.

It’s all about service.

That service extends beyond the borders, as Dittmar regularly takes athletes overseas for mission trips. A group is currently serving in South Africa at an orphanage.

MEETING THE LORD

Dittmar wasn’t raised in a religious home in North Liberty, Ind., located just southwest of South Bend. The third of four children, Dittmar’s mom was a nurse and his dad was a mail carrier.

“My parents were great folks, but they didn’t know the Lord,” said Dittmar. “I didn’t grow up with that in my life. But they were wonderful parents.”

Dittmar came to introduce his parents to the Lord. But first, he had to meet the Lord. It happened in a most unlikely way: On a basketball court as a sophomore in high school. That’s when Dittmar met Russ Schelling.

Schelling was a new kid in town, a big deal because he was a hotshot wrestler. Dittmar wanted to meet him. It happened one day during a pick-up basketball game. As the players rested on a hillside, Schelling asked if anyone wanted to go to church with him on Sunday. His dad was a pastor in town.

“I remember saying to him: ‘Oh, you’re out campaigning for your church.’ He said: ‘No. I just care if you guys know Jesus as your Savior.’ ”

Dittmar didn’t know what to say. Schelling shared out of the Bible about sin and why Jesus died on the cross, and how we needed to accept Him as Savior.

“I had gone to church some of my life, but I never heard this,” said Dittmar. “And then he gave each of us a little booklet, and I took it home. I read it that night in my room, and I had a encounter with the Lord where I realized I was a sinner and I needed Jesus. And I asked him into my life.”

Lightning didn’t strike and angels didn’t sing, but something was different in Dittmar.

“I went to sleep, but my life began to change,” he said. “My desires. He asked if I wanted to be in a little Bible study group. That’s how my life went off on a whole different beginning.”

Dittmar went off to seminary in Pennsylvania and began as a youth pastor in Kokomo, Ind. His work took him to Italy. Along the way, he and Brenda gained custody of a nephew. Part of the terms: Dittmar must live within 225 miles of South Bend, where his sister and brother-in-law lived–parents of the nephew.

“That was of the Lord,” said Dittmar. “We see that now, you don’t see that then. But we see that now.”

That put in motion a life set in service to God that eventual landed Dittmar a spot at Purdue as chaplain in 1997 for Joe Tiller.

It was a good era for Boilermaker athletics. Keady’s teams were rolling, and Tiller was on the precipice of jetting Purdue football to national relevance riding the right arm of a quarterback named Drew Brees. Soon, Keady wanted Dittmar to work with his players, summoning him to his Mackey Arena office.

“He said: ‘These guys have so many negative influences in their lives. I want to make sure we have positive influences, and I want you to be a positive influence in their lives, and I want you around when you can be.

“That’s how that happened,” said Dittmar. “(Former AD) Morgan Burke and I became very good friends. And you develop that trust with people.”

Soon, Dittmar began working with other sports at Purdue.

“Again, it’s about developing that relationship with god,” said Dittmar. “And so we do that through our discipleship one-on-ones. We do that with our huddle that we do every week, which is open to all the teams.”

Purdue offensive lineman Ethan Trent is one of those athletes.

“When I first got to college, I would have said I was a Christian, but I don’t know if I really lived that way,” said Trent, the president of Purdue’s FCA. “Through FCA and getting more serious about my faith, Marty became really influential in my life. He already knew my family and our story, so there was a foundation there. As I got more involved, he just poured into me—and I think a lot of guys on the team would say the same.”

MATCHMAKER MARTY

There’s an ease about Marty Dittmar, cultivated through his devotion to Christ. For a man in his 70s, Dittmar looks fit and trim enough to re-live his days as a prep basketball player. He speaks in calm, measured tones, giving thought to his words.

Ben Smith was met by Dittmar’s friendly face when he got to campus the same year as Dittmar.

“I can’t tell you what Marty means to me,” said the former Purdue DB. “To have the chance to connect when I got on campus was meaningful. We’re still in touch today.”

Not only has Dittmar been a spiritual leader, he also has performed marriages. One of the couples he wed: Aidan O’Connell and Jael Johnson.

“I love doing weddings of people,” he said. “It’s very special to me to watch two people come together, love each other. And my track record is good with weddings. I think they’ve teased me through the years of being a matchmaker.”

Dittmar’s work never is done. But as he tapers down, co-hort Josh McKenzie has stepped in to take a big role in Purdue’s FCA program. The message remains the same.

“I think the greatest joy we experience is when young people come into personal relationship with the Lord and really discover their faith, not their parents faith, not my faith, it’s their faith,” said Dittmar. “They get really hungry to learn and grow and be what God wants them to be. That’s our greatest joy that we experience, and we see that.”