The National Football League – and
indeed, the sport of football itself – is under a lot of fire lately, with
scrutiny over damaging concussions, videos of domestic
violence, and even charges that the game encourages homophobia and teaches
children misogyny. But there is a positive, compassionate side of the league
that tends to get lost among the volleys of criticism.
When Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive
tackle Devon Still, for example, learned
in June that his beautiful 4-year-old daughter Leah had Stage 4 pediatric cancer,
“I just broke down in tears and couldn’t stop crying. It’s like my whole world
turned upside down.” Still wasn’t able to give the team 100% after that, and
eventually he was cut from the squad.
But the Bengals then offered him a
slot on their practice squad, providing him with a paycheck, health insurance,
and more time to spend with Leah. “They could have just washed their hands of
me and said that they didn’t care what I was goin’ through off the field,” Devon
Still said. But they didn’t; they took the high road. The Bengals organization
showed real class and compassion.
Another Devon, safety Devon Walker
from Tulane University in New Orleans, was paralyzed from the neck down after a
collision during a 2012 game against the University of Tulsa. He is bound to a
wheelchair and needs a ventilator to help him breathe.
Nevertheless, Tulane Coach Curtis Johnson
said that Walker was a big part of the team’s success the following year: its
first winning season and bowl game since 2002. “I didn’t have to do any pregame
speeches at home because he did them all,” Johnson said. “And he policed the
locker room. He policed those guys. He was around all the time. This kid
deserves it all. He’s very inspirational.”
Walker, who also went on to become
the recipient of the 2013 Disney
Spirit Award, an honor given annually by Disney Sports to college football’s
most inspirational figure, became an unofficial member of the New Orleans Saints family
as well. Then at the end of May, just hours before graduating from college, the
Saints surprised
Walker by signing him to an official contract. “I’m proud to be up here with
him, and I’m super proud of his recovery and the way he’s handled this and the
way he’s approached this,” said Coach Sean Payton. “Obviously he’s been an
inspiration to our region, to our community, New Orleans, the Tulane family,
and it’s carried over to us on the Saints.”
“To me, this is almost like one of
my dreams come true,” said Devon Walker. “I’ve been a Saint since before I was
walking. Just to be a part of this team, just to be around the players is more
than I could have hoped.”
Those are just two highlights of
the NFL’s more uplifting side. The league also offers a support program called NFL Player Engagement, whose mission is “to optimize and revolutionize the personal
and professional growth of football players through continuous guidance and
support before, during and beyond their NFL experience.” It “prepares and
supports players with matters such as physical and mental
health, family safety,
lifestyle and transition into their post-NFL life.” Its goal is “to
serve and assist as a resource for parents, coaches and athletes in using
football as a catalyst to build and develop life skills for success.” One of
the related programs is All Pro Dad, which offers resources for fatherhood and
aims “to interlock the hearts of the fathers with their children.”
As for causes outside the league,
the NFL is widely known
as a very charitable organization. This is to say nothing of the caring and
philanthropic acts of countless individual players throughout the NFL, past and
present, who offer their time and celebrity to various causes.
“We are losing the compassionate
side of sports,” former San Francisco 49ers star Ronnie Lott worried
back in 1986. In the high-testosterone, hard-hitting world of professional football,
that is a legitimate concern. But I think that today, despite the very public
issues currently plaguing the National Football League, there is plenty of
evidence that football’s compassionate side is more active than ever.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 9/10/14)
