The Greatness of Earl Campbell

[Guest eagle eye]

I have just seen a biography of RB Earl Campbell. From his days as the Tyler Rose in Tyler, Tx to the University of Texas where he won the Heisman Trophy to the halcyon days during the Luv Ya Blue days with the Houston Oilers. Campbell is the embodiment of what a Heisman winner should be. Campbell understands how good of a player he was but he was always humble and grateful for the people who helped him during his life. The show was on the new NBC Sports Channel and it damn near made me cry. You'd have to see the show to understand my feelings here. I'm not a UT fan, I grew up in Oklahoma and the Sooners are my team although I can honestly say I now have several teams that I follow including our own Lamar Cardinals. That being said, I can appreciate what a class act Earl Campbell was and continues to be today. One thing the show revealed was that it wasn't the pounding he took in the NFL that has caused the severe health problems Campbell has had to deal with for so long. No, it was a genetic condition called spinal stenosis (sp?) which is a narrowing of the spine that causes pain. Campbell had four surgeries that did nothing but make his pain almost unbearable. The fact is the problem was misdiagnosed and the surgeries only aggrivated the real problem. A new doctor came in the picture at the behest of Bum Phillips and correctly diagnosed the problem and 5th surgery corrected most of the problem. He still can't walk but his quality of life is much better and he's happy with his life these days. He has overcome many problems and trials since he left the NFL but he's done it all with dignity. It's a lesson that Johnny Manziel has yet to learn and I hope he does before he's blown his shot at the NFL.

 

BTW, it is spinal stenosis that caused Michael Irvin's career to be cut short. It was discovered after he was temporarily paralized by a hit in Philadelphia. It still pisses me off to remember how the Philly "fans" cheered when they saw Irvin was injured. Irvin's condition was centered in his neck while Campbell's was centered in his lower back. Irvin recovered and lives his life as everyone else who is healthy because he didn't have unnecessary surgeries that made his condition worse.