SmokyFin
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I read this article a few years ago and printed it out but lost it, but I finally found it again today available free on the web. It's Dave Hyde's long article about the brutal, lasting effect the game has had on the '72 Fins and the pain they put up with to play then and the pain they go through now in daily life.
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Old-time football, lifetime pain for former NFL champions.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Publication Date: 28-MAR-01
NDEZ)
By Dave Hyde
ALBANY, Ga. _ It is 9 a.m. on a Wednesday, and 25 years after his final play, the meter is still running for Bill Stanfill. He can't look up the flight of stairs in front of him. He wraps five crooked fingers around the handrail beside him.
He lifts a metal cane onto the first stair, moves his right foot up to it, then brings his left foot to join them. He repeats the process on the next step. And the next.
This is how the Dolphins' career sacks leader reaches his second-floor office this morning.
"Just too many hard miles on this body," he says, maneuvering to a desk chair that has a 6-inch cushion on it to ensure his surgically replaced hip remains positioned above his knee. That guarantees proper blood circulation.
A can of Coke sits on his desk from the day before, one-third full, as his always remain. Four fused discs won't allow his neck to tilt back and drain the rest.
In his eight-year NFL career, Stanfill chipped teeth, splintered a forearm, twice bruised his liver, broke or dislocated nine of his fingers, wore a back brace for four months (taking it off to practice every day in training camp) and ruined those four neck discs _ all while happily throwing his body in harm's way.
[mod] Please add a link so people can read the rest[/mod]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Old-time football, lifetime pain for former NFL champions.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Publication Date: 28-MAR-01
NDEZ)
By Dave Hyde
ALBANY, Ga. _ It is 9 a.m. on a Wednesday, and 25 years after his final play, the meter is still running for Bill Stanfill. He can't look up the flight of stairs in front of him. He wraps five crooked fingers around the handrail beside him.
He lifts a metal cane onto the first stair, moves his right foot up to it, then brings his left foot to join them. He repeats the process on the next step. And the next.
This is how the Dolphins' career sacks leader reaches his second-floor office this morning.
"Just too many hard miles on this body," he says, maneuvering to a desk chair that has a 6-inch cushion on it to ensure his surgically replaced hip remains positioned above his knee. That guarantees proper blood circulation.
A can of Coke sits on his desk from the day before, one-third full, as his always remain. Four fused discs won't allow his neck to tilt back and drain the rest.
In his eight-year NFL career, Stanfill chipped teeth, splintered a forearm, twice bruised his liver, broke or dislocated nine of his fingers, wore a back brace for four months (taking it off to practice every day in training camp) and ruined those four neck discs _ all while happily throwing his body in harm's way.
[mod] Please add a link so people can read the rest[/mod]
