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Oct 24, 2021 · Chuck Hughes, 28, is dead. It is October 24, 1971. Fifty years ago this Sunday. Across more than 100 years of league play, he remains the only NFL player to die during a game. TSN ARCHIVES:...
- Overview
- An undiagnosed condition
Sharon Hughes stayed awake as late as she could Monday night, forcing her eyes open. The widow of the only NFL player to die on the field during a game, she needed to know that history was not repeating itself. She needed to hear that Damar Hamlin was still alive.
Hamlin, 24, a safety with the Buffalo Bills, was in critical condition after he went into cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. His medical episode stunned fans in the stadium and those watching on television, including Hughes, who saw Hamlin stand up after having taken a hit to the chest, walk a couple of shaky steps and then collapse on his back.
“I was very emotional,” Hughes, 77, said Tuesday from her Texas home.
Hughes said she felt an immediate bond with Hamlin’s family watching the events unfold Monday. Hamlin’s mother was at the game and reportedly rode in the ambulance with him to the hospital in Cincinnati, which Hughes did five decades ago when her husband, Chuck Hughes, was whisked off a field in Detroit.
“Can you imagine how his mother felt?” Hughes asked in an interview. “It’s a horrifying feeling, and, well, I just felt so sorry for the whole family last night.”
On Oct. 24, 1971, Chuck Hughes, 28, a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, took the place of an injured teammate in the fourth quarter of a game against the Chicago Bears. With the Lions down 28-23, Hughes caught a 32-yard pass — his first catch that season — and was tackled. Several plays later, with 62 seconds left in the game, he fell facedown to the ground, clutching his chest.
An autopsy revealed that Hughes had undiagnosed heart disease and that a blood clot in a clogged artery had dislodged, possibly from a hit he took during the game. The autopsy also showed that it was most likely his second heart attack; the first seemed to have gone unnoticed. He had been hospitalized seven weeks before for what doctors told the family appeared to be a spleen, lung or kidney injury, according to Yahoo! Sports.
He left behind his wife, Sharon, and his son, Brandon Shane Hughes, who was just under 2 years old.
On Tuesday, Brandon Hughes, now 53, said that he hoped Hamlin makes a full recovery and that if Hamlin’s family needed one, “they have a support system here.”
“I would be more than happy to speak with them,” he said. “We certainly understand what they’re going through.”
He also said he hoped NFL players were receiving proper medical screening for the type of heart issues that were not detectable in his father’s time.
“What happened to my father in 1971 is the Stone Ages as far as medicine goes compared to today,” he said. “Are these young men getting the medical care and screenings that they should?”
Jan 4, 2023 · Hamlin remained in critical condition on Tuesday. For some fans, the 24-year-old Bills star’s medical emergency evokes the death of Chuck Hughes more than 50 years ago, who also collapsed during...
Jan 3, 2023 · It is believed that Hughes is the only NFL player from the who died while competing in a game. Hughes, all 5 feet 11 and 185 pounds of him, made his first reception of the season, despite being...
Jan 3, 2023 · Remembering former Lions WR Chuck Hughes, the only NFL player to die on the field during a game. Hughes’ death coming back into light after Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin collapsed on field...
Dec 5, 2013 · What most people don't know about the only player to die on the field in an NFL game is that Chuck Hughes actually had two heart attacks. The first came in the Lions' final preseason game, seven ...
Jan 6, 2023 · Remembering former Lions WR Chuck Hughes, the only NFL player to die on the field during a game. NFL, sports world reaction to injury to Bills’ Damar Hamlin. Hughes died of a heart attack...
