Coach
08-13-2008, 04:40 PM
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2008/08/11/23/117-Darling_brothers_08-12-2008_R114ICSA.embedded.prod_affiliate.81.jpg
Devaughn (left) and Devard Darling were high school football stars in 2000 and headed for Florida State.
RIVER FALLS, Wis. | The thing that hurts most is that Devard Darling’s twin brother died doing this.
He died running around a football field, playing the game the twins from the Bahamas promised themselves they’d someday play in the NFL. He died because of shoulder pads and heat and the exhaustion of running until someone else says it’s time to stop.
Darling, a Chiefs receiver, is standing in the afternoon heat. His head is sweating, and he keeps patting the left side of his chest pads when he talks about his twin, Devaughn Darling, who died in February 2001 after collapsing during a mat drill at Florida State.
“You go through every day your whole life with someone,” Darling says, still patting his chest, “and all of a sudden, you wake up and they’re not there anymore. That was the harsh reality, not being able to see him, hear him and talk to him.”
Devard wants you to see what he keeps patting. He pulls back his white practice jersey and reaches inside his chest pad. He pulls out a sepia-toned photograph of Devaughn in his Florida State uniform. He wore No. 53.
This picture represented where they were going and where they had been. The Darling twins spent their first 12 years in the Bahamas, throwing the football and running from here to there. They’d run home, both of them churning their legs and sweating through their school uniforms — brown trousers and white shirts. One day they’d do this for money, they’d say, maybe both of them on the same NFL team.
“It was an exciting time for me and my twin brother,” Darling says now. “We could have gone through anything in life together, and we would’ve been all right.”
The family moved to Texas in 1994, and six years later, the twins went to Florida State. They were going to college to play football. The dream was coming together.
Devard was there when his brother collapsed. Devaughn was an outside linebacker. Devard was a receiver. The twins were freshmen. They were running through mat drills, four players to a group. When one player makes a mistake, the group has to run harder and faster to make up for the mistake.
Thing is, Devard says, coaches kept sending Devaughn off by himself to do his own drills. After practice, Devard saw his brother on a training table with an ice pack on his neck. It wasn’t uncommon, and Devard went to change out of his Seminoles uniform.
That’s when he heard the commotion, the panic in the training room. Something had gone wrong with Devaughn, and Devard heard people shouting as they performed CPR on the 18-year-old linebacker. Devaughn’s heart had stopped. That was seven years ago.
“It doesn’t really get too much easier,” Devard says.
In those seven years, Devard says he has learned to cope. He carries that photograph of Devaughn in his pads during each practice and game. It was with him when he played the previous four seasons for the Baltimore Ravens. And it was there when Devard transferred to Washington State in 2001, a few months after his brother’s death.
There was no way Devard could’ve stayed at Florida State. Not after what happened. After Devaughn’s death, doctors learned he carried a trait for sickle-cell anemia, a disease that kills about 500 people per year.
But Devard says he thinks coaches pushed Devaughn too hard that day and that they should have given his brother a break if he needed one. Instead, Devard says, coaches kept screaming and Devaughn kept running.
“Everyone there saw what happened in that situation,” Devard says. “It was definitely negligence on their part.”
Devard says his family sued Florida State, and the school offered to settle out of court. Devard says the case has been on hold for nearly seven years in state claims court.
Devard doesn’t talk much about his brother in the Chiefs’ locker room. Teammates know about what happened, though. They know about the photograph and the necklace Devard wears, the one Devaughn was wearing before he died.
“I just asked him one day, ‘What’s the necklace for?’ ” rookie receiver Will Franklin says. “He told me the whole story.”
Devard learned after his brother’s death that he carries the sickle-cell trait, too. He says he has to respect his limits, even in a sport that challenges its players to defy those limits or face the consequences.
“I know my body,” he says. “I never hold back.”
Devard is expected to make the Chiefs’ 53-man roster. He says he wants to be a starter. But if he isn’t a starter, Devard says, that’s OK. He says he’s happy with the opportunity the Chiefs gave him this offseason when they signed him to a free-agent deal.
Devard says he just wants to play for an NFL team. He wants to continue holding up his end of the deal he and Devaughn made when they were children.
“Everything I do in life,” Devard says, “I want to honor my brother. We had dreams and goals of being NFL players — great NFL players — and that’s my dream.”
Devard pauses for a moment. He pats his chest.
“We just wanted to play football,” he says.
The Kansas City Star
http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2008/08/11/23/117-Darling_brothers_08-12-2008_R114ICSA.embedded.prod_affiliate.81.jpg
Devaughn (left) and Devard Darling were high school football stars in 2000 and headed for Florida State.
RIVER FALLS, Wis. | The thing that hurts most is that Devard Darling’s twin brother died doing this.
He died running around a football field, playing the game the twins from the Bahamas promised themselves they’d someday play in the NFL. He died because of shoulder pads and heat and the exhaustion of running until someone else says it’s time to stop.
Darling, a Chiefs receiver, is standing in the afternoon heat. His head is sweating, and he keeps patting the left side of his chest pads when he talks about his twin, Devaughn Darling, who died in February 2001 after collapsing during a mat drill at Florida State.
“You go through every day your whole life with someone,” Darling says, still patting his chest, “and all of a sudden, you wake up and they’re not there anymore. That was the harsh reality, not being able to see him, hear him and talk to him.”
Devard wants you to see what he keeps patting. He pulls back his white practice jersey and reaches inside his chest pad. He pulls out a sepia-toned photograph of Devaughn in his Florida State uniform. He wore No. 53.
This picture represented where they were going and where they had been. The Darling twins spent their first 12 years in the Bahamas, throwing the football and running from here to there. They’d run home, both of them churning their legs and sweating through their school uniforms — brown trousers and white shirts. One day they’d do this for money, they’d say, maybe both of them on the same NFL team.
“It was an exciting time for me and my twin brother,” Darling says now. “We could have gone through anything in life together, and we would’ve been all right.”
The family moved to Texas in 1994, and six years later, the twins went to Florida State. They were going to college to play football. The dream was coming together.
Devard was there when his brother collapsed. Devaughn was an outside linebacker. Devard was a receiver. The twins were freshmen. They were running through mat drills, four players to a group. When one player makes a mistake, the group has to run harder and faster to make up for the mistake.
Thing is, Devard says, coaches kept sending Devaughn off by himself to do his own drills. After practice, Devard saw his brother on a training table with an ice pack on his neck. It wasn’t uncommon, and Devard went to change out of his Seminoles uniform.
That’s when he heard the commotion, the panic in the training room. Something had gone wrong with Devaughn, and Devard heard people shouting as they performed CPR on the 18-year-old linebacker. Devaughn’s heart had stopped. That was seven years ago.
“It doesn’t really get too much easier,” Devard says.
In those seven years, Devard says he has learned to cope. He carries that photograph of Devaughn in his pads during each practice and game. It was with him when he played the previous four seasons for the Baltimore Ravens. And it was there when Devard transferred to Washington State in 2001, a few months after his brother’s death.
There was no way Devard could’ve stayed at Florida State. Not after what happened. After Devaughn’s death, doctors learned he carried a trait for sickle-cell anemia, a disease that kills about 500 people per year.
But Devard says he thinks coaches pushed Devaughn too hard that day and that they should have given his brother a break if he needed one. Instead, Devard says, coaches kept screaming and Devaughn kept running.
“Everyone there saw what happened in that situation,” Devard says. “It was definitely negligence on their part.”
Devard says his family sued Florida State, and the school offered to settle out of court. Devard says the case has been on hold for nearly seven years in state claims court.
Devard doesn’t talk much about his brother in the Chiefs’ locker room. Teammates know about what happened, though. They know about the photograph and the necklace Devard wears, the one Devaughn was wearing before he died.
“I just asked him one day, ‘What’s the necklace for?’ ” rookie receiver Will Franklin says. “He told me the whole story.”
Devard learned after his brother’s death that he carries the sickle-cell trait, too. He says he has to respect his limits, even in a sport that challenges its players to defy those limits or face the consequences.
“I know my body,” he says. “I never hold back.”
Devard is expected to make the Chiefs’ 53-man roster. He says he wants to be a starter. But if he isn’t a starter, Devard says, that’s OK. He says he’s happy with the opportunity the Chiefs gave him this offseason when they signed him to a free-agent deal.
Devard says he just wants to play for an NFL team. He wants to continue holding up his end of the deal he and Devaughn made when they were children.
“Everything I do in life,” Devard says, “I want to honor my brother. We had dreams and goals of being NFL players — great NFL players — and that’s my dream.”
Devard pauses for a moment. He pats his chest.
“We just wanted to play football,” he says.