For 14 seasons, including 12 with the Bills, Darryl Talley was an NFL linebacker, racking up 1,190 tackles and two Pro Bowl honors. But as detailed in this Buffalo News story by Tim Graham, Talley is struggling these days.
As Graham wrote:
He’s 54, but his body is a wreck and continues to crumble. He suspects collisions from playing linebacker for 14 NFL seasons, a dozen with the Buffalo Bills, have damaged his brain. He’s often depressed beyond the point of tears. He’s bitter at the National Football League for discarding him and denying that he’s too disabled to work anymore. He says the Bills have jilted him, too. He learned after he retired that he’d played with a broken neck. He had a heart attack in his 40s. He lost his business. The bank foreclosed on the Talleys’ home of 17 years. Against her husband’s pride, Janine Talley has accepted money from friends to pay the bills. He contemplates killing himself.
His former teammates, like Bruce Smith, are frightened for him, and Talley says the future does not look bright. But he's asking for help, and in the 24 hours or so since the article was posted, Bills fans have responded.
On the gofundme.com website, this is the amount of money that's been collected for Talley. As of 10:20 a.m. ET on Friday:
Wrote the organizer of the page: "Darryl Talley was the quintessential Buffalo Bill. He was the on-field General for the teams that went to four straight Super Bowls. He gave everything he had on every play and left it all on the field. The years of abuse on the field took their toll and today Darryl is in a bad place. His body has broken down, his money is all but gone and depression has taken hold of the man Bills' fans affectionately call, 'Spider-Man.' ... Darryl is the proudest of men and it took a lot for him to even admit publicly that he needed help. For 12 years he circled the wagons for us, now it's time for Bills' fans to return the favor for our favorite son. Please consider giving any amount you can so we can show Darryl Talley that he is and always will be #1 in the hearts of Bills' fans."
Make sure to read Graham's entire story. It's wonderfully written and reported, and it sheds plenty of light into the life of a former player who's now fallen on tough times.
