Twenty Years Ago, One Hit Changed Two Lives Forever

[DainBramaged]

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:

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/10/28/twenty-years-ago-one-hit-changed-two-lives-forever/?icid=main|main|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fncaafootball.fanhouse.com%2F2009%2F10%2F28%2Ftwenty-years-ago-one-hit-changed-two-lives-forever%2F


Please read this article.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I'll bet all of us can assemble twenty groups of twenty people, the total of which don't come ......

..... close to the measure of this man.

[DainBramaged]

3. A beautiful man, wonderful story. Made me cry, needed to post it

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, DainBramaged.

[RubyDuby in GA]

4. That was a beautiful story.

Thank you for posting it.

Now if I could just stop crying...

[Kadie]

5. Wow.

Just wow.

K&R

[intaglio]

6. Part of the game ...

Is it part of the game that Gaines stands a very high chance of developing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy - an illness almost identical to Alzheimers?

Please read the article - and ignore the contentious dog fighting parallels.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell

[Barack_America]

7. He does it because it's a decent thing to do.

And decency still means something to some people.

I feel most sorry for the people in his life who don't understand why he does what he does.

They're the ones who are really missing out.

Great story, thanks.

[proteus_lives]

8. WOW. This man understands the meaning of honor and decency.

It's actually hard to express how hopeful this article makes me. I'm so glad people still treat each other right in this world.

Someday Gaines and Mullins will meet again. They'll hug and toss the ball around.


K/R for a story that makes me sad and happy at the same time.

[Romulox]

9. It's always shocking how often the CRACK! of helmet on helmet contact is heard during an NFL game.

More needs to be done to protect the players...

[DainBramaged]

10. Just a kick for a wonderful story

[DainBramaged]

11. I wanted to kick this agin, not for me but so the weekend warriors can enjoy this story