Even if you aren’t old enough to have first-hand reflections on Joe Delaney’s story, learn it, and never forget it.
If I make one mistake on this blog (I wish it was only one), it’s that I spend too much time writing about off-field mischief and not enough time on what goes on between the hash marks.
But in my defence, Donté Stallworth, Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress, and their respective cars, dogs and guns, have owned a large percentage of the NFL’s offseason. And it’s been that way for much of this decade, with just the names and vices changing.
I’d love to relay my thoughts on stories of NFL players jumping into swimming holes to save drowning children, but these events are, unfortunately, a lot rarer than DUIs and gun possession charges.
So if you don’t know who Delaney is, look him up. And don’t just go to his NFL.com player page, because that only tells one one-millionth of the tale.
Sure, that’ll tell you he was one of the most promising young running backs in football in the early 1980s. The stats and notes will reveal that he was a 1,000-yard rusher, a Pro Bowler and a rookie of the year.
They’ll also reveal that he only played two seasons.
At the age of 24, Delaney died trying to save three kids from what was a makeshift lake in Monroe, La., 26 years ago today.
Hundreds of adults were present as the drowning kids starting shouting for help and gasping for air on June 29, 1983.
Delaney was the only one who came to the rescue.
Delaney couldn’t swim.
He, along with two of the three boys, died.
So it’s not a happy story, but at the same time, it is. It is because it’s the story of a good man doing a good deed; going above and beyond and sacrificing his safety (and, ultimately, his life) for completely altruistic reasons.
The cynic in me asks, Why the hell did no one else help that day?
We’ll never know.
But Delaney was there, and a 36-year-old man named LeMarkits Holland is living and breathing right now because of Delaney’s final, sacrificial act.
When a sports world overflowing with selfishness and overindulgence gets you down, remember Joe Delaney.
Recommended reading: Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly remembers Joe Delaney and Frank Deford's feature on Delaney from the Nov. 7, 1983 edition of Sports Illustrated.
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