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

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Mike Utley in Detroit May 16, 
2014