JANUARY 12 • 2023 | 5

Eagle do that.’”
I called Jerry Green, the
Detroit News’ beat reporter
for the Lions at the time of
Hughes’ death. I wrote about
Jerry’s incredible career last
March in the JN.
He, too, expressed surprise
by the absence of any earlier
mentions of Hughes’ passing
in the Hamlin coverage. Like
me, he heard ESPN refer to the
Hamlin incident as “unprece-
dented.”
Still a contributing writer at
94, Green shared his remem-
brances of Chuck Hughes
on that fateful day at Tiger
Stadium in last week’s Jan. 3
edition of his paper. He recalls
making his way to the locker
room after the game. “We wait-
ed. The door opened, coach
Joe Schmidt told us Chuck had
died of a heart attack. He had
died on the field, face down,
on the mud-ridden gray grass.”
It was at the time, shall we
say, unprecedented. Days later,
Green would attend Hughes’
funeral in Texas.
In his column, Jerry also
recounted other football trag-
edies that had befallen Detroit
Lion players. There was Mike
Utley, paralyzed during a game
at the Silverdome in 1991.
Linebacker Reggie Brown
would lay unconscious on the
Silverdome field in 1997, even-
tually recovering from a spinal
contusion.
Utley lost the use of his legs.
When being taken off the field
on a stretcher that fateful day,
he famously gave the fans the
“thumbs up,” which would
later become the trademark of
the Mike Utley Foundation,
which has supported funding
for research into a cure for
paralysis for the last 30 years.
In 2011, I had the privilege
of being asked by Mike and his
wife, Dani, to emcee an event

for their foundation. What a
dynamic duo these two are.
Since Mike’s injury, they’ve
been a source of endless inspi-
ration for others navigating
similar circumstances.
“I hope God reaches down
and touches him and gets him
back to being the role model
that I hear he’s been,” Mike told
me last week during a phone
call about the Hamlin injury.
When you talk with
Mike Utley, it’s always part
conversation, part motivational
speech. He gives you a kick in
the butt when you’re not even
looking for one.
“
An injury, a situation,” he
said, “can’t change you unless
you allow it. That’s just the way
it is. This game will change
your life forever — some
good, some bad. The game of
football teaches you so much.
It has given me so much more
than it has taken and, God
willing, I would do it again. I
know he [Hamlin] loves the
game and it’s hard to have it
taken away from you, but life
comes first.”
The news coverage in the
aftermath of Hamlin’s medical
emergency began to include
doctors who tried to provide
insight. But I admire ESPN’s
Scott Van Pelt for excluding
that in his coverage after
the Bills-Bengal’s game was
postponed.

“My personal
preference was that I
didn’t want to bring in a
physician to speculate,”
Van Pelt told several
news agencies. “I totally
see the other side,
where a well-trained
eye of a physician
might recognize
something that might
totally make sense. But
I just didn’t want to be
speculating.”
Speculation
has become the
go-to source for
broadcasters to fill
what has become today’s
endless and often laborious
24-hour news cycle. From my
vantage point, speculation only
serves to feed unsubstantiated
narratives no matter what the
news story. It has become as
common place as “Breaking
News,” which has lost its luster
because of its overuse.
Well, I guess it must be
pretty apparent by now that
the Damar Hamlin story
struck a nerve on several
levels for me. I usually reserve
this space for something
humorous, but here we are.
And, what the heck, here’s a
closing thought.
Like so many of us, I hope
that upon the arrival of this
edition of your JN we have
been on the receiving end of
some very good news about
Damar Hamlin. If it can serve
any additional purpose, I
would say that it should be
a reminder in this new year
to show the same amount of
empathy for those who are
suffering, even outside the
spotlight. Everyday folks with
everyday problems.
I know for a fact Damar
Hamlin has been living by
that philosophy well before
his name pulled at our

heartstrings on the evening
of Jan. 2. He had previously
established a GoFundMe
campaign during the pandemic
to support a toy drive to
provide toys to needy children.
At the onset of his career
in 2021 he said: “
As I embark
on my journey to the NFL, I
will never forget where I come
from, and I am committed to
using my platform to positively
impact the community that
raised me.”
According to one report,
the fund he established had
recently surpassed its goal of
raising $2,500 by a modest
$421. Since Damar’s injury,
the campaign has eclipsed the
$7 million mark. He is already
changing lives while he fights
for his own.
As we make our way
through this new year, let us
not wait for a tragedy on a
grand scale to motivate us to
do good on a regular basis,
be it financially or with a
contribution of your time.

Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/

acting talent, speaker, and emcee.

Visit his website at laughwithbigal.com,

“Like” Al on Facebook and reach him

at amuskovitz@thejewishnews.com.

Chuck Hughes’ trading card

ACCOUNTABILITYGROUP

Mike Utley in Detroit May 16,
2014