Who is everson walls

Former Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs suffered from diabetes for 20 years. It ultimately led to kidney failure, the amputation of his right foot, and the amputation of his big and middle toes on his left foot, according to CBS News.

Walls was good friends with Springs as the two were both on the Cowboys from through Walls then ultimately made a massive sacrifice for his friend.

He donated his kidney to Springs in , according to Sporting News. He then slipped into a coma. He ultimately died of a heart attack, ESPN reported. But as owners brought in replacement players, the solidarity among the striking Cowboys- which was never unanimous to begin with- dissolved even further.

At one point before the strike ended, Walls made the pages of Dallas newspapers as the lone figure on the picket line in front of the team facility. Walls remained in Dallas long enough to see the team sold to Jerry Jones. He was and remains in second place in team history for interceptions, with Walls signed with the Giants in , where he played under head coach Bill Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick. He moved to safety and called the plays for one of the most dominant defenses in NFL history.

Late in the game, it was Everson- who admits that he was never fast and never liked tackling- who made a game-saving stop of Bills running back Thurman Thomas in the open field.

I took off after Thomas. I could be the hero this time instead of the goat. I had to make the surest tackle of my life, and somehow I did, twenty-two yards later. As part of our 30th anniversary of the season presented by BudLight , read the inside story of Everson Walls' iconic Sports Illustrated cover photo. The prolific defensive back who had been coached by Eddie Robinson, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells, and Bill Belichick, never stopped learning under his football mentors, even in the twilight of his stellar career.

Everson Walls was let go by the Browns during the season. He played 13 seasons, scored a touchdown, won a Super Bowl, went to four Pro Bowls, and graced the cover of Sports Illustrated twice after taking part in two of the most memorable games in league history.

He has 57 interceptions to his name, a total that still ties him for 13th place on the all-time list. But the man best known for all those takeaways on the field still had something even greater to give long after he left it. I would say thats Everson Walls 24, and Ron Springs 20!! Walls had first met Ron Springs during his rookie season of Springs was a third-year fullback in Dallas, blocking for Tony Dorsett and playing a crucial role as a pass-catcher out of the Cowboys backfield.

Even their wives and children came to spend considerable time together outside of the season. Many thought the Walls and Springs clans were actually one large extended family.

In retirement, even after finishing their respective football careers in different cities, the pair ended up together again in Dallas. There, they pursued business opportunities together, including playing on a Cowboys offseason touring basketball team started by Drew Pearson. But as the years went on, Springs saw his health decline rapidly. By , diabetes has taken his right foot and required two toes to be amputated from his left.

Springs needed a new kidney. More than one family member had been mentioned as a donor, but some complication always prevented a transplant from moving forward.

On the last day of February , Everson Walls, 47, donated one of his kidneys to Ron Springs, 50, in a five-hour surgical procedure. They became the first former American professional athletes to undergo an organ transplant. Walls described coming out of the fog of anaesthesia like the feeling in the stadium tunnel after a game: a swirl of emotion and a sea of faces, with the happy smiles of family members finally coming into focus to greet him amidst the bright lights.

He was grams lighter without the kidney, and a celebrity once more for what he had done for his friend and former teammate. They provide blood pressure and diabetic testing, as well as opportunities for children to attend Camp Reynal, a camp designed for kids who suffer from kidney-related diseases. But in October of that same year, just eight months after the transplant, Springs went into cardiac arrest while undergoing a procedure on a cyst that had appeared on his elbow.

Walls made the Pro Bowl four times with the Cowboys. Following the season, however, the team went in a different direction. Everson signed with the rival New York Giants. Post career, it was Everson donating a kidney to his former Cowboys teammate, Ron Springs, that gained national attention. College : Grambling St. Weighted Career AV High School : L.

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