WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It started, according to his father, when John Beck was no more than 7 months old.
Wendell and Julie Beck were proud new parents sitting in church one Sunday with their son at their side.
As they listened to scripture, John sucked contentedly on a bottle.
Suddenly, an object flew end-over-end into a fellow church-goer four pews in front of the Becks.
Dad looked down at his son. The bottle was gone.
"From there on out, we had to watch him," Wendell Beck said. "When he'd get to the very end of the bottle, we'd have to grab it from him. If we didn't, he'd grab it out of his mouth and chuck it."
That is just one of the countless tales told about the talents of John Beck, the former Brigham Young quarterback the Dolphins selected in the second round of last weekend's draft.
Family and friends, teammates and coaches swear that the accounts are accurate. If they are even half-true, the name of Brady Quinn, the quarterback the Dolphins passed over in the draft, could be a distant memory by the end of Beck's NFL career.
"I'm pretty sure what you've heard is all true," said Matt Allen, a receiver for Beck at BYU. "It's kind of amazing what John can do. And I guess he was doing that stuff even before he came to college."
Wendell Beck has as many stories as you have time to hear.
When John was 2, he could throw a Nerf ball 10 yards — with a spiral.
At 4, the distance was up to 20 yards and John had worked in play-action fakes.
As a junior in high school, John could stand at home plate and, from a standstill, throw a baseball over the center field fence 300 feet away.
"I never really taught him any of those things," his father said. "It all came to him naturally."
The tales grew even taller in college, thanks in part to fervent Cougar fans.
They said Beck — on one knee — once threw a ball through the goalposts from the 50-yard line. That he had to throw the ball softer because his receivers couldn't handle his heat. That he had the second-best arm among quarterbacks at this year's scouting combine. And that he might even be able to throw over mountains.
Not true. True. Sort of true (Quinn and JaMarcus Russell didn't throw). And maybe.
"Depends on which mountains," Beck said with a smile.
When Beck's wife of three years, the former Barbara Burke, hears how BYU fans describe her husband's gifts, she finds it very ironic. Those fans, she said, made his first three seasons, when the Cougars went 15-20, "very rough."
"It was more difficult than people realize," she said. "A lot of of it was just because of the tradition at BYU and the expectations."
His father said that on occasion he had to be separated from overly critical spectators.
"Those fans were brutal to John," Wendell Beck said. "Bru-tal. They might protect him now, but they crucified him for three years."
Considering that Miami fans already are upset because the team bypassed Quinn in favor of selecting receiver Ted Ginn Jr. with the ninth pick and Beck with the 40th, the family might be in for some rough days at Dolphin Stadium. No matter how good his arm is.
"We're used to it now," Barbara Beck said. "We'll be able to handle it if need be. But, honestly, I know my husband. I know what he's capable of and I know the kind of worker he is, so I'm not worried about him not panning out."
If Beck does succeed, it won't be just because of arm strength. He also is precise — he completed 69.3 percent of his passes as a senior, when the Cougars were 11-2.
"This kid can drop bombs down smokestacks across the street," Dolphins general manager Randy Mueller said. "That's how accurate he is."
Beck also has a quick release and great balance.
"His feet are always under him," said Western New Mexico University coach Bernie Busken, who coached Beck in high school in Mesa, Ariz. "He doesn't get spread out and make poor throws. As long as you have your feet under you, you have a chance to make a pretty good play."
Beck, 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, also is said to have the lateral quickness to elude the rush.
But his admirers say that his most important attribute is his ability to see plays develop — a shift in the defensive formation, for example, or a crease developing in the secondary — in a way that most quarterbacks don't.
"I've always kind of felt that I've had this knack for the game, of seeing things, feeling things," Beck said.
That's usually a trait associated with greatness. Think Joe Montana, or Larry Bird. They saw things before they happened.
For now, however, Beck is nothing more than an obscure 25-year-old from a weak conference who didn't post a winning record or eye-popping stats until his senior season, when the Cougars installed a pass-friendly offense.