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Teammates for life

It often surprises people to learn that most teammates do not necessarily remain close friends. Their careers end, they switch teams, they move on. Ron Springs
Frank Deford|
Teammates for life
Teammates for life

It often surprises people to learn that most teammates do not necessarily remain close friends. Their careers end, they switch teams, they move on. Ron Springs and Everson Walls were different.

When Walls came to the Cowboys in 1981, Springs was already the starting fullback. Moreover, he was pretty much the leader of the Cowboys' African-American players -- a boisterous, welcoming presence, the self-appointed "mayor" of what he called Ghetto Row.

Walls, though, was a no-name. He not only came from a small, predominately black college, Grambling, but he wasn't even drafted. Springs took the shy kid from nowhere under his wings, though, and Walls made the team. Even though the two men played together for just four seasons, their friendship only became stronger. Their wives grew close; the two men became godfathers of each others' children.

Springs told his son, Shawn: don't be like me, don't be a running back. It may be glamorous, but it's grueling, brutal work. Be a defensive back like Mr. Walls. It was wise advice. Ron Springs only lasted eight years in the NFL, but Walls played 13, and now Shawn is in his 11th NFL season.

Unfortunately, several years after his football career ended, Ron was diagnosed with diabetes. Now it was Everson's turn to be the leader. He made his friend work out, to keep him as healthy as possible. But the disease forced Springs into dialysis; it required the amputation of his foot. He desperately needed a kidney transplant, but there was no one in his family with the match. Almost matter-of-factly, Walls volunteered one of his, and in March, Springs gained a new life when his friend's kidney was transplanted into his body.

That had surely never happened before in sports, one old teammate saving another. But then, just to be with these two guys was uplifting. They wouldn't use the word -- hey, they're tough old, football players -- but their love for one another shone through all their jokes and friendly insults. "Don't call me a hero," Walls kept saying. To him, he had only done what good friends are supposed to do.

It should've been such a joyous story. The two men even formed the Gift for Life Foundation, to raise funds for diabetes and to promote organ donor awareness. Out of tragedy had come new purpose.

But then, last month, Springs went into the hospital to have a cyst removed from his arm. It was such a simple operation that the doctors at first thought it could be done with a local. At the last, though, Springs agreed that it would be better to go under. Alas, as soon as he was anesthetized, he fell into a coma. He is still there.

The doctors offer virtually no hope. The family and Springs' friends can only pray. Everson Walls visits him in the hospital. Sometimes, he says, he is sure Ron is watching him, recognizing him, that there is something still alive beyond the empty eyes and the still form that holds his kidney.

It is always hardest to believe that an athlete's great body can fail him. We cling so hard to the memories of men on the field of play, together, invulnerable for sure.

Published | Modified
Frank Deford
FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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