By TOM ARCHDEACON
Cox News Service
Thursday, May 31, 2007
DUBLIN, Ohio — A perfect play out of the deep rough couldn't be any sweeter than this.
Two guys — so often misunderstood — will likely have a perfect understanding today at The Memorial Tournament.
Conrad Dobler — once dubbed "The Dirtiest Man in the NFL" — said he can't wait to extend his hand to golfer Phil Mickelson, so often criticized by some for everything from a reckless style of play to what they say is his "calculated'' smile:
"It's gonna be nice to shake his hand, man to man, and say, 'Thanks man, I needed it. I really do appreciate it.'"
Out of the blue, Mickelson has stepped forward and paid the tuition for Dobler's daughter Holli to attend Miami University.
And when the 56-year-old Dobler says he needed it, he means it.
He now walks with a cane — in a month he'll be back on a walker — and his wife Joy can't walk at all.
After 10 years as a hard-nosed NFL offensive lineman, Dobler retired in 1981 and soon after his knees began to fail him.
He's had seven operations, including three knee replacement surgeries. On June 23rd, he'll undergo his fourth. After his last one, a staph infection left him hospitalized for 100 days .
Although now 90 percent disabled, Dobler said the NFL Players Union — like it does so many retired players — denies him necessary benefits.
Even so, the biggest toll on the Dobler family didn't come from football, but instead a freak backyard accident at a Fourth of July gathering six years ago.
"Joy tried getting in the hammock and it flipped like it has 100 times before," Dobler said by phone from their Leawood, Kansas home. "But this time it changed our lives forever."
She fractured the C-5 and C-6 vertebrae, damaged her spinal cord and has been a quadriplegic since. Her medical expenses already exceed $1 million.
"Accidents and injuries like this don't care who you are, what you make or where you been," Dobler said. "We down-sized our life, used up our savings, and it still wasn't anywhere near enough."
The Doblers have six children — Holli's the youngest — and it soon became evident they couldn't afford sending her to college.
Two years ago, Dobler's story — and that of other former NFL players struggling in retirement — was part of an HBO report that Mickelson happened to see.
He told his lawyer, Glenn Cohen, he wanted to do something, but didn't want it publicized. Cohen called the Doblers and said Mickelson wanted to pay Holli's way through college. She chose Miami, and for two years now Mickelson's picked up the tab.
"I was stunned," Dobler said. "I didn't know what to say."
He and Mickelson don't know each other and have never met or spoken. Today they will. Mickelson is flying the family to Muirfield Village and will meet them in private.
"A random act of kindness — that's what my daughter calls it," Dobler said.
After his Memorial practice round Wednesday — as he has every time since the arrangement against his wishes became public three months ago — Mickelson refused to talk about it other than to admit he was looking forward to meeting the Doblers: "That's not really something I want to go into. But yeah, I really am."
He is involved in other charities and will talk briefly about them. With his Birdies for the Brave program, he donates $100 for each of his birdies, $500 for an eagle, to help two groups that support wounded soldiers and families who have lost someone in combat:
"We've been fortunate to do some cool stuff and just recently right here in Ohio, (Cincinnati Reds pitcher) Bronson Arroyo — I'm a big fan of his — joined in something my wife and I are doing. He's doing Strikeouts for the Brave."
It's because of such involvements that Dobler views Mickelson critics about the same as he once did NFL defenders:
"Sometimes an image of people gets perpetuated in the press and it just isn't true. I know. I'd try to do something, and it'd get prefaced with 'the dirtiest player, the meanest guy, ever to play.'
"Anybody who gives Phil a bum rap should listen to my wife. She calls him a true angel. Says the only thing missing are wings."
He said Holli — who'll be a Miami junior — is majoring in Spanish and English with hopes of being a teacher, works a job in Oxford and still carries a 3.6 GPA. "She makes sure Phil sees her grades, probably even before I see 'em. She sends them to his lawyer, and he forwards them."
Dobler said Mickelson's good deed has helped more than just Holli: "He's helped our NFL cause, too. I think the league's almost embarrassed by this, a guy from another sport stepping in to help."
HBO revealed that of 9,000 living retired NFL players eligible for benefits, only 144 had been able to get long-term disability.
"Current players don't care about the guys who paved the way, won three or four strikes and put them in the position to get the salaries they do now," Dobler said.
"Meantime what's happening to a lot of retired guys is a sin. Guys living in their cars, guys broke. Guys like Mike Webster (the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame center) dying young and Andre Waters (the Philadelphia safety reportedly depressed from playing days' brain damage) blowing his brains out."
Yet, maybe the most surprising benefit of Mickelson's deed has been what it's done to Dobler himself.
"Seeing someone do something from the goodness of their heart, it changes you, too," Dobler said. "I'm a better person because of his generosity. Now I'll do what I can for somebody in need."
Phil Mickelson has done what guys like Mean Joe Greene and Merlin Olsen could not.
He's helped a guy who once relished a sucker punch realize the power of a helping hand. He's turned football meanest man into one that's most appreciative.
Tom Archdeacon writes for the Dayton Daily News.
Cox News Service
Thursday, May 31, 2007
DUBLIN, Ohio — A perfect play out of the deep rough couldn't be any sweeter than this.
Two guys — so often misunderstood — will likely have a perfect understanding today at The Memorial Tournament.
Conrad Dobler — once dubbed "The Dirtiest Man in the NFL" — said he can't wait to extend his hand to golfer Phil Mickelson, so often criticized by some for everything from a reckless style of play to what they say is his "calculated'' smile:
"It's gonna be nice to shake his hand, man to man, and say, 'Thanks man, I needed it. I really do appreciate it.'"
Out of the blue, Mickelson has stepped forward and paid the tuition for Dobler's daughter Holli to attend Miami University.
And when the 56-year-old Dobler says he needed it, he means it.
He now walks with a cane — in a month he'll be back on a walker — and his wife Joy can't walk at all.
After 10 years as a hard-nosed NFL offensive lineman, Dobler retired in 1981 and soon after his knees began to fail him.
He's had seven operations, including three knee replacement surgeries. On June 23rd, he'll undergo his fourth. After his last one, a staph infection left him hospitalized for 100 days .
Although now 90 percent disabled, Dobler said the NFL Players Union — like it does so many retired players — denies him necessary benefits.
Even so, the biggest toll on the Dobler family didn't come from football, but instead a freak backyard accident at a Fourth of July gathering six years ago.
"Joy tried getting in the hammock and it flipped like it has 100 times before," Dobler said by phone from their Leawood, Kansas home. "But this time it changed our lives forever."
She fractured the C-5 and C-6 vertebrae, damaged her spinal cord and has been a quadriplegic since. Her medical expenses already exceed $1 million.
"Accidents and injuries like this don't care who you are, what you make or where you been," Dobler said. "We down-sized our life, used up our savings, and it still wasn't anywhere near enough."
The Doblers have six children — Holli's the youngest — and it soon became evident they couldn't afford sending her to college.
Two years ago, Dobler's story — and that of other former NFL players struggling in retirement — was part of an HBO report that Mickelson happened to see.
He told his lawyer, Glenn Cohen, he wanted to do something, but didn't want it publicized. Cohen called the Doblers and said Mickelson wanted to pay Holli's way through college. She chose Miami, and for two years now Mickelson's picked up the tab.
"I was stunned," Dobler said. "I didn't know what to say."
He and Mickelson don't know each other and have never met or spoken. Today they will. Mickelson is flying the family to Muirfield Village and will meet them in private.
"A random act of kindness — that's what my daughter calls it," Dobler said.
After his Memorial practice round Wednesday — as he has every time since the arrangement against his wishes became public three months ago — Mickelson refused to talk about it other than to admit he was looking forward to meeting the Doblers: "That's not really something I want to go into. But yeah, I really am."
He is involved in other charities and will talk briefly about them. With his Birdies for the Brave program, he donates $100 for each of his birdies, $500 for an eagle, to help two groups that support wounded soldiers and families who have lost someone in combat:
"We've been fortunate to do some cool stuff and just recently right here in Ohio, (Cincinnati Reds pitcher) Bronson Arroyo — I'm a big fan of his — joined in something my wife and I are doing. He's doing Strikeouts for the Brave."
It's because of such involvements that Dobler views Mickelson critics about the same as he once did NFL defenders:
"Sometimes an image of people gets perpetuated in the press and it just isn't true. I know. I'd try to do something, and it'd get prefaced with 'the dirtiest player, the meanest guy, ever to play.'
"Anybody who gives Phil a bum rap should listen to my wife. She calls him a true angel. Says the only thing missing are wings."
He said Holli — who'll be a Miami junior — is majoring in Spanish and English with hopes of being a teacher, works a job in Oxford and still carries a 3.6 GPA. "She makes sure Phil sees her grades, probably even before I see 'em. She sends them to his lawyer, and he forwards them."
Dobler said Mickelson's good deed has helped more than just Holli: "He's helped our NFL cause, too. I think the league's almost embarrassed by this, a guy from another sport stepping in to help."
HBO revealed that of 9,000 living retired NFL players eligible for benefits, only 144 had been able to get long-term disability.
"Current players don't care about the guys who paved the way, won three or four strikes and put them in the position to get the salaries they do now," Dobler said.
"Meantime what's happening to a lot of retired guys is a sin. Guys living in their cars, guys broke. Guys like Mike Webster (the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame center) dying young and Andre Waters (the Philadelphia safety reportedly depressed from playing days' brain damage) blowing his brains out."
Yet, maybe the most surprising benefit of Mickelson's deed has been what it's done to Dobler himself.
"Seeing someone do something from the goodness of their heart, it changes you, too," Dobler said. "I'm a better person because of his generosity. Now I'll do what I can for somebody in need."
Phil Mickelson has done what guys like Mean Joe Greene and Merlin Olsen could not.
He's helped a guy who once relished a sucker punch realize the power of a helping hand. He's turned football meanest man into one that's most appreciative.
Tom Archdeacon writes for the Dayton Daily News.
0 comments:
Post a Comment