By Darin Football players often inspire us with their athletic prowess on the field, but many also exhibit remarkable heroism off the field by saving lives and performing extraordinary acts. This episode delves into the incredible stories of former NFL players who became real-life heroes, highlighting their selfless actions in critical situations. From Tony Gonzalez’s lifesaving intervention during a choking incident to Leonard Pope’s heroic rescue of a drowning boy, these athletes showcase the impact they can have beyond the game. Additionally, the episode shares the inspiring story of Bryce Taylor, an African American player who overcame significant challenges in the 1920s to excel in football. Join us as we celebrate these remarkable individuals and their contributions to both sports and society.
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Transcript
Football players are our heroes to many of us, but that's just on the football field watching with their great athleticism and things they've done.
Host:Well, how about off the football field when they're actually saving lives or doing amazing things with maybe surprisingly, with what they have?
Host:We're gonna cover some stories of these amazing feats and more coming up in just a moment.
Darren Hayes:This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history on a day to day basis.
Darren Hayes:Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.
Darren Hayes:So as we come out of the tunnel of the Sports History Network, let's take the field and go no huddle through the portal of positive gridiron history with pigskindispatch.com.
Sports History Network:This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.
Sports History Network:You can Learn more at sportshistorynetwork.com hello.
Host:My football friends, this is Darren Hees of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portable positive football history.
Host:And welcome to another edition where we get to talk about some great football history.
Host:And we're going to talk about some miscellaneous stories here of some of our football heroes that were really heroes in real life saving people's lives.
Host:Just some amazing stories here.
Host:And as we were going into this, you know, we know that Kansas City and the Philadelphia Eagles will be playing in the super bowl here.
Host:Be the second meeting in three years for these two teams to meet.
Host:And the Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to be a three peat contender here.
Host:Three Super Bowls be the first time in the super bowl era where a team has won three in a row.
Host:So it's a big challenge for them.
Host:But there's been some challenges from for some former Kansas City Chiefs players where they had to go and save somebody's life.
Host:And good thing they were there at the time because they did save lives.
Host:ime was eating a meal back in:Host:Gonzalez got up and used the proper methods of Heinrich maneuver and saved the man's life.
Host:And grateful for that was the man and for everybody that was in attendance at the restaurant at the time, quite a hero.
Host:was Leonard Pope, played from:Host:Well, Pope had been at a party where at somebody's house, at a friend's house.
Host:And they were had a pool in the backyard.
Host:Pope was in the house and nobody at the party could swim.
Host:And a young man was in the pool, one of the friend's sons.
Host:And he ended up going under the water.
Host:Everybody screamed, didn't know what to do in panic.
Host:Pope being the only one at the party that could swim, ran out of the house, jumped in with his clothes on, saved the young man who all was above the water, was his hands, pulled him out to safety and they saved his life.
Host:Unfortunately, there was a casualty in that and it wasn't a person, thank God, ended up being the telephone of Leonard Pope, who was in his pocket when he jumped in the water.
Host:But far be it a small sacrifice to save the young boy's life.
Host:And another hero, Leonard Pope.
Host:And we're sure glad to be able to mention him.
Host:And as we're speaking about tight ends, how about Martellus Bennett?
Host:He saved a man's life or at least saved him from some major injury.
Host:Martellus Bennett played for the Cowboys, the Giants, the New England Patriots, the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers.
Host:When he was playing for the Giants one day he was after a game and he was handing a pair of his gloves to a child up in the stands after the Giants have beat the packers.
Host:And an older fan went to grab the gloves for the young man, missed and tumbled over the railing and Bennett caught him after a brief fall.
Host:Now, this man may have not been seriously injured.
Host:The railing wasn't that high, but he could have landed straight on his head, broke his neck.
Host:Who knows.
Host:But Bennett quick hands and quick feet was able to save this man from falling, breaking his fall and carrying him to safety, holding him to safety anyway with a big bear hug.
Host:So that was one holding call that we were glad Bartalis Bennett got by saving that man's life.
Host:Yeah, just some amazing athletes of the gridiron that did some amazing things to help others and really save some lives or save some from some severe injury in the cases of some of these.
Host:Now we have another amazing story that I want to share.
Host:s gentleman lived back in the:Host:His name was Bryce Taylor.
Host:chool in Seattle in the early:Host:And then from:Host:Now, one of the amazing things about Bryce is he was an African American.
Host:Now think about that.
Host:In the:Host:That's a pretty big deal all by itself for that era.
Host:But the more amazing part of this is that Bryce Taylor was born without a left hand.
Host:He stood 5 foot 9, 185 pounds, and was such a superior athlete that he could fend off the best defenders in a day where, you know, an era where you could not use your hands to block, you had to put your, you know, keep your hands in and block with your shoulders and, you know, your wrists, basically.
Host:And he just heat did it.
Host:He did it.
Host:Started for the varsity for all three years of his eligibility, and the USC Trojans had a pretty good offense when he was playing there.
Host:Such as an amazing story of another amazing player that maybe you haven't heard much about, but we sure want to honor here today in Bryce Taylor.
Host:So these are just some examples of football history and some of the things that we like to do when we say we want to be the portal of positive football history.
Host:We can talk about the big names, you know, like we've talked about Tony Gonzalez, and we can talk about the Tom Brady and the Joe Montanas and Joe Namus of the world, but it's people like Bryce Taylor and some of our other folks, you know, Leonard Pope have done, done some amazing things to save lives or to do some remarkable items in athleticism with having something maybe that somebody else doesn't have.
Host:And that's where we'd like to leave it with you today.
Host:Hope you enjoyed this little bit of football history and appreciate some of these athletes and some of the things they've done for society and for themselves.
Host:Until next time, everybody have a great gridiron day.
Co-Host:Peeking up at the clock, the time's running down.
Co-Host:We're going to go into victory formation.
Co-Host:Take a knee and let this baby run out.
Co-Host:Thanks for joining us.
Co-Host:We'll see you back tomorrow.
Co-Host:For the next podcast.
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Co-Host:Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.
Sports History Network:This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.
Sports History Network:You can learn more at sportshistorynetwork.
Host:Com.