After a stirring piece in The Buffalo News revealed the struggles of ex-Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley, local fans rallied to raise over $100,000.
Tim Graham of The Buffalo News wrote one of the best sports pieces you’ll read all year in his coverage of the daily struggles suffered by ex-NFL linebacker and former Buffalo Bill Darryl Talley. Much like others of his era and those prior, Talley suffers with depression, constant pain, and now near-poverty. Enter Buffalo Bills fans, who stepped in to donate over $100,000 in 58 hours.
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After losing his business, Tally battled the banks as well as his own inner demons. Fourteen years in the NFL left him a physical ruin. He can’t sleep more than 90 minutes and he often contemplates suicide even as his family is forced to move into a tiny home and put off certain bills.
A Bills fan named Frank Croisdale read Graham’s stirring bit and decided to take action, posting a fundraiser to GoFundMe. Once Bills fans and Mountaineers fans (Talley played for West Virginia University) heard of Talley’s plight, their generosity poured through in droves.
“After reading that story, one name popped into my head: Junior Seau,” Croisdale said, per ESPN. “I didn’t want to read about Darryl in the same way.”
Now, we know what you’re going to say. What does a former football player need with his fans’ money? Didn’t Talley get enough in his 14 years of playing football? To which we would respond, ‘read the damn article’.
Talley wasn’t stupid with his money, but the NFL basically wrote him off and denied him extended health benefits because they said Talley was able to work a normal job, which one can’t really do when they can’t even comfortably sit down. In Graham’s piece, you see the living pain suffered by someone who clearly has CTE, which is one of the biggest challenges facing pro sports players today.
If you wish we could have done more when Junior Seau or countless other athletes died with depression or pain, then you should wish the best for Darryl Talley, even if you choose not to do so with your pocketbook, as so many already have.
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