Darryn Willoughby is a world-class, professional bodybuilder who benches 500 pounds. So why did media outlets and social media make such a big deal that he recently lifted a 15-pound baby?
It’s because he held the adorable and squirming infant for the duration of the exercise biochemistry course he was teaching March 2 at Baylor University.
Student cellphone photographs of the Hulk-like Willoughby lecturing as 4-month-old Millie watched went viral with posts on sites ranging from Huffington Post and Cosmopolitan to People magazine and Good Morning America.
Baylor University Professor Darryn Willoughby lectures while holding 4-month-old Millie, whose babysitter was a no show March 2. Willoughby said he held the girl for nearly an hour as he taught so that her mother, Katy Humphrey, could focus on class. (Photo courtesy of Darryn Willoughby)
Willoughby — a professor of exercise, nutritional biochemistry and molecular physiology — didn’t think it was that big of a deal.
“The story should not be about me,” he said. “As a follower of Christ, that is what I am directed to do — to love and care for others.”
But many of those others thought the scholar’s actions were praiseworthy — though not surprising.
“Anybody who knows Dr. Willoughby knows he has a huge heart,” said Katy Humphrey, a 14-year Marine Corps veteran and mother of Millie, the little girl who’s helped generate all those headlines. “It didn’t surprise me he wanted to hold her the whole time.”
‘Let me have her’
It all started an hour or two earlier when Humphrey’s sitter bailed, leaving her to decide between missing class or bringing her daughter to Baylor. It was an eventually she and Willoughby had previously discussed, so she emailed him with a heads-up.
“I said that was more than fine,” he said.
Willoughy was already a few minutes into his lecture when Humphrey arrived with Mille in a baby carrier. He recalled that she appeared slightly embarrassed as she took an open seat near the door.
Millie started fidgeting.
“She was just squirming around — she wasn’t fussy, she wasn’t crying and she wasn’t disruptive,” Willoughby said.
But he could tell Humphrey was distracted as she tried to calm her daughter. He also noticed some students paying attention to the two.
“So I just walked over and said, ‘Let me have her,’” Willoughby said. “I started comforting and cuddling her and I said ‘You just focus on class and I’ll take care of Millie.’”
Katy Humphrey and her husband, Mike Bolik, and their daugher Millie. (Photo courtesy of Katy Humphrey)
But rather than simply holding her for few minutes, Willoughby cradled her in the crooks of his massive arms for the better part of an hour.
“It didn’t affect the class or the lecture,” he said.
Willoughby said his strategy was to keep Millie facing the screen from which he lectured, which kept her from getting bored.
“We didn’t hear a peep out of her the entire class,” he said.
The biggest challenge was that she drooled occasionally.
“She was drooling on my arm,” Willoughby said. “I said that’s OK — I raised two girls and I am not allergic to baby slobber.”
Willoughby said he didn’t hold Millie to minimize his own distraction during the class.
“I wanted Katy to feel comfortable in class,” he said. “I didn’t want her to feel self-conscious or looked down upon.”
‘I use my physique as a hook’
But he conceded the experience — which occurred again Wednesday — was another way God used his body for service to others.
Willoughby said he and his wife operate Faith Fitness Ministries as a way to guide clients into healthier lifestyles. Even his bodybuilding career has served as a way to share the gospel.
“I use my physique as a hook … to be able to talk about the word of God,” he said.
Humphrey said she’s grateful for Willoughby’s understanding and generosity.
“The other students in the class were the same way — they wanted to hold her, too,” she said.