A PAINFUL BLESSING. Pt. 1

I was listening to “Elvis Radio” in the wee hours of this morning when the aged George Klein, Elvis boyhood friend and the primary DJ, introduced this week’s special guest. I always look forward to these interviews, and from my point of view they are just so compelling.

As usual, I was not disappointed.

As it fell together, today’s interviewee was none other than the former Washington Redskins quarterback, Joe Theismann. It seems he was and continues to be a big Elvis fan. 

Old Joe proceeded to talk more about himself than about Elvis, as the DJ’s questions were directed towards his professional career, and the life-changing injury which permanently ‘took him out of the game.’

Theismann was the fourth-highest paid player in the NFL at the time, in his first year of a five-year, $5 million contract. But he had lost sight of God and His blessings until the injury.

“The game was tied at 7-7 in the second quarter. At the time the Redskins had been attempting to run a ‘flea flicker’ play. Theismann had handed off to fullback John Riggins who subsequently lateralled the ball back to the quarterback. The New York Giant’s defense, however, was not fooled, and they attempted to blitz Theismann. As Taylor sacked Theismann, Taylor’s knee came down and drove straight into his lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the fibula. 

‘The pain was unbelievable, it snapped like a breadstick. It sounded like two muzzled gunshots off my left shoulder. Pow, pow!’ Theismann said during a 2005 interview. ‘It was at that point, I also found out what a magnificent machine the human body is. Almost immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg. The endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain.’

As Theismann lay on the field, a horrified Taylor frantically screamed for the emergency medical technicians. Initially, however, many Redskins personnel thought Taylor's screaming and pointing directed at their sidelines was a taunt over the fact that he had successfully stopped their play.”

·  Leonard Shapiro (2005-11-18). "The Hit That Changed a Career". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-06-30.

·  ·  Stone, Kevin (18 November 2015). "Ten things you might not know about Joe Theismann's injury 30 years ago". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

·  Sonny Bunch (2009-11-20). "Movie Review: The Blind Side". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2015-02-04.

I can tell you as I listened to Mr. Theismann’s reminiscence of that day I found myself as impressed over the man’s testimony, as I have ever been about any such sports account.

(to be continued)

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 48. Copyright pending

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