Good comes from the bad for David Pollack

BY TROY JOHNSON - johnsont@ledger-enquirer.com --

They have saved all the get well cards with messages written in Crayola. They have held on to the photos of the children who, despite being immobilized in a hospital bed, despite coping with severe neck and spinal injuries, managed to smile for the camera.

These are the items that David Pollack and his wife Lindsey looked at after doctors inserted two screws and a plate in his neck and affixed a "Halo" brace to his head and shoulders. These are the keepsakes that prompted Pollack to say the most unexpected thing Monday about the moment that ultimately ended his NFL career after a mere 16 games.

"Breaking my neck is the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life," Pollack said after participating in the SEC Celebrity Golf Classic in Columbus.

This is not the sort of statement you expect to hear from a professional football player who retired before his 26th birthday. This is not the sort of declaration that immediately makes sense given the fact that Pollack, restless by nature, still works out six to eight hours a day and still looks like a man very much in his athletic prime.

It's remotely possible that Pollack, a three-time All-American defensive end at Georgia, could have continued playing linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals without incident. He received medical clearance and could have perhaps cut down on his chances for injury by moving to defensive end, but the risks far outnumbered the potential reward.

One hit from the wrong angle might have done more than end his career. It could have stolen his ability to walk.

Two games into his second NFL season, Pollack made what appeared to be a routine tackle on Cleveland running back Reuben Droughns. On this particular play, the hyperkinetic Pollack didn't bounce up off the turf and return to the huddle. He lay motionless in the middle of Paul Brown Stadium before being wheeled off on a stretcher and having his head immobilized in a Halo brace for nearly three months. He underwent surgery in January 2007, to repair the fractured C6 vertebra and missed the entire season, but held out hope for an eventual return.

After undergoing a battery of tests and consulting with his doctors, Pollack retired last month and, until Monday, had declined to discuss the subject at length.

"We went to several doctors," Lindsey Pollack said. "According to them, he was at least at a moderate risk to get injured again. In his mind and in their eyes, it just wasn't feasible for him to play again."

In that long period between his injury and his April process of weighing retirement against the risk of a return, Pollack didn't wallow in self pity or curse God. He kept his faith and kept his options open.

Last year, he worked as a TV broadcaster for Charter Sports Southeast's SEC game of the week. He poured his money and energy into the charitable foundation he started, the one that assisted at-risk children in Cincinnati through educational programs. Frequently, he thought of the children who sent him cards and pictures during those three months when his head was encased in the Halo brace.

Contact Troy Johnson at 706-320-4432 or johnsont@ledger-enquirer.com

 

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