Former Ohio State Buckeyes and Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs’ story is one of faith, struggle, friendship, loss, love, disease and sacrifice.
Springs suffered from diabetes for 20 years, a disease that not only ultimately caused his kidney failure, but also led to the amputation of his right foot and the big and middle toes on his left foot, and caused his hands to curl into knots. He was forced into a wheelchair from the horrible disease, and needed dialysis three times a week.
As Springs’s condition was deteriorating from diabetes, his son Shawn, then a defensive back for the Washington Redskins, considered quitting football to give his father a kidney. His father would not hear of it.
“I think that was a tremendous gesture, and it just justifies the fact that he’s a loving son,” Ron Springs told Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post. “But I couldn’t have let him do that, because I always prayed and wanted him to be a professional athlete, so I would not have shortened his career by no means necessary.”
Cue Springs’ former teammate Everson Walls, who incredibly was a match, and donated his kidney to his dear friend in 2007.
“Everson did one of the most noblest things that an individual could do,” said Tony Hill, a former wide receiver for the Cowboys.
The feel-good story took a downward turn however as Springs ultimately lost his battle, spending the last four years of his life in a coma after losing oxygen during a subsequent surgery to remove a cyst from his forearm, just seven months after receiving the kidney.
On May 17, former teamates and fans will gather in Frisco to celebrate the lives of Ron Springs and fellow former Buckeye and Cowboy Terry Glenn, as Brotherhood 4 Good hosts a dinner to benefit the Ron Springs Gift for Life Foundation and the Brighter Generation Foundation.
Everson Walls, Tony Dorsett, Shawn Springs, Drew Pearson, Eddie George, Billy Joe Dupree, Doug Donley, Eugene Lockhart, Doug Cosbie, Preston Pearson, Timmy Newsome, Michael Wiley and Tony Hill are just some of the former Cowboys and Buckeyes scheduled to attend. For ticket information go to ronspringsgiftforlife.org/donate.
