Former Cowboy Ron Springs laid to rest
Posted Thursday, May. 19, 2011
BY CLARENCE E. HILL JR.
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Carrollton -- Former Cowboys running back Ron Springs was a fun-loving guy and consummate teammate, whose mission in life and ultimately death was to be an inspiration to others.
That is how he was remembered by family, dozens of former teammates and friends during his funeral at the Covenant Church.
?What a clown he was,? said former teammate Everson Walls. ?But he touched so many people's lives.?
Springs, 54, died of a heart attack exactly a week ago after spending four years in a coma due to a mistake while undergoing a procedure to remove a cyst in October of 2007.
It proved to be the beginning of the end of a great inspirational story that impacted lives inside and outside the sports world.
Just a few months earlier in February of 2007, Springs received a kidney from former teammate Everson Walls. He had already had his right foot amputated, along with the big and middle toes on the left foot. The transplant saved his life.
It was the first time a professional athlete donated an organ to a teammate.
The only other documented cases involving former pro athletes as donors include Greg Ostertag giving a kidney to his sister in 2002 when he was playing for the Utah Jazz, and basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson donating a kidney to his daughter in 1997. Basketball players Alonzo Mourning and Sean Elliott are among pro athletes who have received an organ.
Springs may be gone but his impact on organ donation, kidney disease and diabetes will not die, especially in the African American community.
Springs and Walls started the Gift for Life Foundation to spread the message.
And even after his death, all anybody wanted to talk about was how Springs lived his life -- full of joy and inspired to help others.
Along with Walls, former Cowboys teammates Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach and Doug Donley, who also played with Springs in college at Ohio State spoke at the services.
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