No, Randy, not a "softie", just someone who appreciates when you read a story of real human kindness. Truly a great story. Wanda ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gatornet Admin" <[email protected]> To: "GatorTalk" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 7:32 PM Subject: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] Twenty Years Ago, One Hit Changed Two Lives Forever
> > Sniff, sniff! Choke... :( > > Randy (I'm becoming a "softie" in my old age) > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "JNene" <[email protected]> > To: "GatorNews" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 6:05 PM > Subject: [gatornews] Twenty Years Ago, One Hit Changed Two Lives Forever > > >> >> (SEC topic, not Gator-related, but I thought it would be of interest.) >> Twenty Years Ago, One Hit Changed Two Lives Forever >> >> Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:00PM By David Whitley (RSS feed) >> >> >> Brad Gaines will do it again early Wednesday morning. He'll grab some >> Clorox and glass cleaner, toss them in the trunk of his Buick and head >> to a little cemetery 175 miles away. >> >> His long, strange trip actually began 20 years ago today. >> >> "I'll be doing it until I die," Gaines said. >> >> He goes to visit a friend he never really knew. Then one crazy >> football play bound them forever. On a Homecoming afternoon, he >> collided with Chucky Mullins. >> >> Gaines, a tailback for Vanderbilt, got up and headed back to the >> huddle. Mullins, a safety for Mississippi, never moved again. >> >> His neck was shattered. He died less than two years later. >> >> We read about such things, wince and move on. It's nobody's fault. >> It's just football. >> >> Gaines knew that on Oct. 28, 1989. He knows it on Oct. 28, 2009. >> >> It doesn't matter. >> >> "I know it was part of the game," he said, "but it doesn't change the >> fact, you know ..." >> >> He's tried to explain it a million times why he drives from Nashville >> to Russellville, Ala. three times a year. If it's the date of the >> accident or the date Mullins died or Christmas, Gaines has to make it >> to the grave that's marked simply: >> >> Chucky, Man of Courage. >> >> So what force drives Gaines? Why has he has skipped out early every >> Christmas or left home at midnight to get back for a morning meeting >> or barely beat the clock and found himself cleaning Mullins' grave by >> the light of the moon? >> >> "There have been times I have had to hitchhike because I ran out of >> gas, had blown out tires, my car's broken down," Gaines said. "But I >> always make it." >> >> Everybody from his wife to total strangers has worried and wondered. >> Perhaps the only person who could truly understand is Mullins. >> >> "It's almost like it was fate," Gaines said. >> >> He was a white kid from hoity-toity Vandy. His brothers had played in >> the NFL. He was a stud running back, the leading receiver in the SEC, >> a kid whose idea of hardship was getting turned down for a date. >> >> "There have been times I have had to hitchhike because I ran out of >> gas, had blown out tires, my car's broken down. But I always make it." >> -- Brad Gaines Mullins was a skinny black kid from a nowhere town. His >> mother died when he was in sixth grade. He wasn't particularly fast or >> strong or talented, but Ole Miss coaches loved his attitude. Mullins >> would do anything to win. >> >> So it wasn't surprising that he lowered his helmet and buried it in >> No. 44's back. Gaines had gone up to catch a pass. The force from >> behind knocked the ball loose before he hit the ground. >> >> Gaines scrambled to recover it, but the refs called it an incomplete >> pass. He didn't even notice No. 38 wasn't moving. Before long, the >> number would literally mean everything to him. >> >> Gaines couldn't sleep after the accident. He no longer cared about the >> sport he was raised to love. He didn't even play his senior season. >> >> He did try to get to know the source of his pain. The first time they >> formally met, Gaines walked into the hospital room and tried not to >> visibly shake. Mullins was in a halo contraption with all sorts of >> tubes attached to his body. >> >> A ventilator was rhythmically hissing at his bedside. Gaines shuffled >> near the bed, bent over and strained to make out what Mullins said. >> >> "It wasn't your fault." >> >> That was Chucky. His spirit never inspired people far beyond the >> South. Walter Payton visited him. So did Janet Jackson and George H. >> W. Bush. >> >> >> More than $1 million was raised for his trust fund. Ole Miss built him >> a specially equipped house, and he was back in class the next year. >> Then a blood clot formed in his lung. >> >> Gaines read about it and drove to the hospital in Memphis . Mullins >> was in a coma, but his friend got there in time to say goodbye. Then >> doctors removed the life-support system. Gaines went to the hospital >> roof and wept. >> >> Ole Miss started the Chucky Mullins Courage Award, given each year to >> a senior defensive player. The winner used to wear No. 38 until the >> school retired it in 2006. >> >> "You say 'Chucky,' and everybody knows what you mean," Gaines said. >> >> You say Brad, and everybody wonders what that means. >> >> "As I get older I've gotten even more emotional about it," he said. "I >> don't know, maybe raising my own kids and how fragile life can be." >> >> He has four of them now, three girls ages one to 11, and a five-year- >> old boy. Gaines is a successful businessman but he still drives a 20- >> year-old Buick his kids hate. >> >> "I wish your car would die," they tell him all the time. >> >> If it does today, he'll just start hitchhiking. Gaines has lost count >> of the trips he's made to Russellville, but it's at least 60. None of >> his kids have ever gone with him. They just know their father has >> something he has to do. >> >> "When I leave to go to the cemetery, they know why I'm going," Gaines >> said. "They see the importance of that, the importance of having love >> for your fellow man." >> >> Mullins is buried next to his mother, who died when she was only 32. >> Gaines will pluck the weeds then clean the dirt and grime off the >> brown granite headstone. >> >> Then he'll just sit and talk and pray. >> >> It may seem odd that Gaines carries a picture of Mullins in his >> wallet. That his phone number still ends with the number 3800. That he >> just can't let go. >> >> Why? >> >> "He's a person I love," Gaines said, "and I miss." >> >> It's as simple as that. >> >> So what will Gaines' headstone read one day? Is he a Man of Guilt or >> Craziness or Courage or Compassion? >> >> Whatever it is, Mullins would be proud to clean it. >> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
