Author Jim Murphy was in a Dallas-area hotel room Sunday evening, preparing to retreat when his phone started exploding.

Murphy watched a Notre Dame-Penn State replay after missing the College Football Playoff semifinals earlier in the week. As it turns out, that’s what he should have focused on the Philadelphia Eagles’ 22-10 wildcard win over the Green Bay Packers. That’s because Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown sat on the bench during the game flipping through a copy of Murphy’s book. Inner excellence. Brown’s teammates call the book “The Recipe” because Brown read it regularly throughout the season. Brown says it helps him stay calm, regardless of what happened on the previous trip.

“It was a pretty great night,” Murphy said when contacted after the game on Sunday. “I’m sitting here alone in a hotel. I thought, What’s with all these messages? And then I saw what happened and I thought: Oh my god, this is crazy. Really neat.”

He added: “It is truly an honor to be a part of his life and to hold a meaningful place in everyone’s life.”

MORE: Search AJ Brown’s book “Inner Excellence” for the lessons he may have learned

Murphy was a former MLB prospect who was forced to retire due to vision problems. He moved to Tuscon and lived a spartan life alone in a house while investing his savings in finishing it Inner excellence. For years he traveled the world speaking to renowned experts about how the world’s greatest athletes can perform at their best in incredibly stressful situations and from there find a deep sense of meaning and joy that is not dependent on their achievements.

He told me that after finishing the book, he was nearly $90,000 in debt, and after an almost cosmic series of circumstances, including donating his last $100 from a cash advance to feed someone in need, His life began to change, as did his book, taken over by one high-performance athlete or CEO after another.

“One day I got a message from a golf caddy in Ireland and he said, ‘Can you talk to my friend (PGA Tour golfer) Henrik Stenson?’ He needs your help.’ So I fly to Sweden and meet him. Then a few weeks later I got a call from Hunter Mahan (also a PGA Tour golfer). Afterwards, I received a call from David Novak, the CEO of Yum Brands! (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut) and he said he sent my book to all his executives around the world.”

After reading the book, Stenson won the FedEx Cup. Mahan won a PGA Tour event and a Match Play Championship shortly after working with Murphy, and “I’ve been working with world-class athletes ever since.”

Although Murphy has no relationship with Brown, he knows how the book ended up in the Eagles wide receiver’s locker. Brown’s teammate Moro Ojomo received a copy from Murphy’s friend DJ Giaritelli, the director of Austin Athletes In Action (Ojomo went to the University of Texas).

He plans to reach out to the Eagles star soon, as the book – published in 2020 – will undoubtedly get a second wind.

“I’m very grateful and look forward to talking to AJ about it,” he says. “We’re not in a relationship yet, but I’m sending him a message.”