William Ashley Sunday was born in 1862 on his grandparent's farm in Iowa. His family wasn't wealthy. His father, a bricklayer, died in the Civil War when he was 10. His mother couldn't provide for him, so he went to live in the Iowa Soldier's Home For Orphans.
As a teenager, he started to play baseball for a local team in Marshalltown, Iowa. It was here he was noticed by the professional baseball team now known as the White Sox. He started playing baseball in 1883 for the Chicago White Stockings, jumping to the Pittsburg Pirates and then the Philadelphia Athletics.
It was during this time, in 1886, that he learned about Christ through the Pacific Garden Missions in Chicago. He met his wife Helen Thompson during this time and they were married in 1888.
Billy had been feeling the call to preach when the YMCA asked him to leave baseball and come preach at their services, which he did in 1891.
Billy turned down a $400 per month salary to play baseball for an $84 per month ministry. The ball team is said to have offered him $500 a month and even $2,000 per month to come back. But Billy had decided to serve Christ.
He started working with two travelling evangelists, and after a revival in Iowa, Billy started evangelistic campaigns across the United States, first in the West, and then in large cities in the East after WWI. His wife Helen helped to organize his campaigns, spoke at women's meetings, and was there to support him when he needed it.
Billy Sunday's preaching was rather rough. He used words that most of the preachers of his day would have cringed to use. This even caused some of the ministers of his time to criticize him. Billy's response was, "I want to preach the gospel so plainly that men can come from the factories and not have to bring a dictionary." He often used his entire body and other nearby objects in his sermons. No doubt, he kept the audience attention while he delivered the message of salvation.
Towards the end of his life, Billy was offered a million dollars to play in movies, but Billy still was committed to serving God. Money wasn't going to keep him from the ministry.
Billy is said to have preached to millions and it's estimated that around 300,000 came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of his ministry.
"I'm against sin, I'll kick it as long as I have a foot. I'll fight it as long as I have a fist. I'll butt it as long as I have a head. I'll bite it as long as I've got a tooth. And when I'm old and fistless and footless and toothless, I'll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition." And he did. He went home to be with the Lord in 1935 after a heart attack at the age of 73.
His wife went on to help raise money for rescue missions and Christian ministries. She was active at Bob Jones University and Youth for Christ. She followed her husband's example in ministry until the Lord took her home in 1957.
