News
Hurricanes defensive end Akheem Mesidor out vs. Stanford due to injury
The Hurricanes will have to play without one of their top defenders against Stanford on Saturday.
Defensive end Akheem Mesidor was listed as a game-time decision on Miami’s gameday availability report, and he was not dressed in uniform during the team’s pregame warmups. He was the only player listed as a game-time decision, and he was the only one on the injury report who has received significant playing time.
Mesidor suffered a foot injury in UM’s loss to Louisville but returned later in the game.
Mesidor is fourth on the team with 28 tackles and leads Miami with 3.5 sacks. He has the second-best Pro Football Focus defensive grade on the team (89.2) among frequent players. Mesidor is second on the team with 25 quarterback pressures.
Mesidor, a sixth-year senior, has dealt with foot injuries throughout his career.
Other players out for the game include tight end Jack Nickel and wide receiver Chance Robinson.
Rest in paradise: Where the famous & infamous are buried in South Florida
During this season of the supernatural, with Halloween and Day of the Dead looming, we’re putting a spotlight on the super-famous (and infamous).
More specifically, on the gravesites at South Florida cemeteries that hold the secrets of some of our most notorious names.
Among the public figures buried here, we discovered creators of music we love, and stars of movies and TV shows that made us laugh. Some were sports stars in the ring and on the field, others coaches behind championship teams. One ran a tabloid, while others were frequent subjects of the headlines.
Comedian, actor and variety show host Jackie Gleason is one of our most beloved, having recently landed on a list of “Celebrities & Public Figures Americans Would Most Want to be Buried Beside.” At No. 21, Gleason was Florida’s highest-ranking celebrity in Choice Mutual life insurance agency’s survey of 3,128 people.
Below, find a roundup of notable South Florida burial spots. But remember, if you plan to pay your respects, check each location’s hours and policies first, and always be considerate of the grounds.
Comedian Jackie Gleason clowns for photographers after a news conference in Miami Beach on Jan. 21, 1966. (AP file photo) JACKIE GLEASON & DON SHULAOur Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery
11411 NW 25th St., Doral
- Best known for his role as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden in “The Honeymooners,” Jackie Gleason died at age 71 in Lauderhill in 1987. He moved in the 1960s to Miami Beach, where “The Jackie Gleason Show” was filmed in what is now The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. “Known for his quick wit and larger-than-life personality, Gleason left a legacy of laughter and joy,” according to the Choice Mutual survey results. “His final resting place features an epitaph that reads: ‘And away we go!’ — a nod to his famous catchphrase. Fans of classic television and comedy may feel inspired to rest near this entertainment icon.”
- The Miami Dolphins coach, dubbed the NFL’s most winningest, led the team to two consecutive Super Bowl titles in 1973 and 1974. Don Shula retired after the 1995 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He’s been linked to steakhouses and a hotel, promoted various products and served as the Dolphins’ vice chairman. He died in 2020 at age 90 in Indian Creek in Miami-Dade County and is in the Doral cemetery’s main mausoleum.
The Gardens of Boca Raton Cemetery & Funeral Home
4103 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton
- Connie Francis, the pop singer, actress and Parkland resident who had a slew of hit songs in the 1950s and ’60s, died at age 87 this past July 16. Before her death, the “Where The Boys Are” star enjoyed a resurgence when her 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” went viral on TikTok. Her crypt is in one of the mausoleums on-site with the inscription: “I think I did OK.”
- XXXTentacion (Jahseh Onfroy), the rapper and singer-songwriter who lived in Parkland, was killed in a shooting after shopping for a motorcycle in Deerfield Beach on June 18, 2018. The Lauderhill-raised 20-year-old had signed a $10 million record contract for his third official release before his murder. He is in a private mausoleum overlooking a pond.
- ‘An amazing human being’: Fort Lauderdale icon, unlikely TikTok star Connie Francis remembered
- Three sentenced to life in prison for murder of XXXTentacion
- Happy 101st Jackie Gleason. How Sweet It Was.
Evergreen Cemetery
1300 SE 10th Ave., Fort Lauderdale
The “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” star is still giving us a chuckle nearly 15 years after his death at age 84 in Fort Lauderdale. Known for his flatulence-inspired pranks, the comedic actor’s memorial marker proudly states: “Let ‘er rip.” On the other end is a park bench etched with some of his sage advice: “Sit down whenever you can.”
A bench inscribed with a quote from actor Leslie Nielsen is shown at the foot of his grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale. (Amy Beth Bennett/ South Florida Sun Sentinel) ROXIE ROKERSouthern Memorial Park
15000 W. Dixie Highway, North Miami
The Miami native saw success on the 1970s-’80s show, “The Jeffersons.” As the character of Helen Willis, she was part of one of the first interracial married couples featured on primetime television. In real life, Roxie Roker was married to TV producer Sy Kravitz, and their son is musician and actor Lenny Kravitz. In 1995, she died at age 66 in Los Angeles. She is buried in East Court 2 alongside her mother, Bessie Roker.
The crypt of boxing legend Rocky Marciano is shown at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens Central in Fort Lauderdale. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel) ROCKY MARCIANOForest Lawn Memorial Gardens Central
499 NW 27th Ave., Fort Lauderdale
The professional boxer who held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956 is interred in a crypt in this Fort Lauderdale mausoleum, near the statue of a woman in a pool of water. He retired undefeated in 1956. Born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, he died in a small plane crash in 1969 at age 45, one day before his 46th birthday. His wife, Barbara, is entombed next to him.
Actress Esther Rolle's grave is in the Westview Community Cemetery in Pompano Beach, the city where she was born and raised. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel) ESTHER ROLLEWestview Community Cemetery
1900 W. Copans Road, Pompano Beach
The Pompano Beach native is best known for her role as Florida Evans on the TV series, “Maude,” and its spin-off, “Good Times” (for which she won the 1974 NAACP Eighth Image Award for Best Actress in a Series). Northwest Third Avenue, which runs through her childhood neighborhood, was renamed in her honor. Esther Rolle died in 1998 at age 78 in California. Her gravesite features a diamond-shaped headstone with a rose engraved on it.
Jaco Pastorius pictured while performing a free concert on Young Circle in downtown Hollywood on Sept. 10, 1983. (Phil Skinner/South Florida Sun Sentinel file) JACO PASTORIUSOur Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery
1500 S. State Road 7, North Lauderdale
Considered one of the best bassists of all time, Jaco Pastorius was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Broward County in the late 1950s, graduating from Oakland Park’s Northeast High School in 1969. Born John Francis Pastorius III, he became a member of the jazz fusion band Weather Report in the 1970s, and also played with Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. He died in 1987 at age 35 from injuries sustained during a fight outside a Wilton Manors nightclub. The city of Oakland Park named Jaco Pastorius Park, 4000 N. Dixie Highway, in his honor. His plot is in Section L of the cemetery.
Perry Como is buried alongside Roselle, his wife of 65 years, at Riverside Memorial Park in Tequesta. (Kari Barnett/South Florida Sun Sentinel) PERRY COMO, MIKE DOUGLAS, GARY CARTER & CHUCK DALYRiverside Memorial Park
19351 SE County Line Road, Tequesta
- Perry Como, singer, actor and TV variety show host, died at age 88 in 2001 in Jupiter Inlet Colony. Roselle, his wife of 65 years, is buried alongside him. He recorded songs, including “Papa Loves Mambo” and “Catch a Falling Star,” for RCA Victor for 44 years. He’s also known for starring in numerous Christmas TV specials from 1948 to 1994. He is buried in the Garden of Reflection.
- Mike Douglas, big band singer and entertainer, was host of “The Mike Douglas Show,” a daytime talk show that had a 21-year run. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976. He died in 2006 at age 81 in Palm Beach Gardens. His crypt is in the Liberty Hall Mausoleum.
- Gary Carter, the Hall of Famer who played most of his 19-year career in Major League Baseball with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets, died in 2012 at age 57 in Palm Beach Gardens. He won the 1986 World Series with the Mets. After his retirement in 1992, he served as an analyst for Florida Marlins television broadcasts and later became head baseball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach in 2009. He is buried in the Reflection 5 section.
- Chuck Daly, the Hall of Fame basketball head coach, died in 2009 at age 78 in Jupiter. His Detroit Pistons team won back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. He also led the 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team, aka the Dream Team, to a gold medal. He also is buried in the Reflection 5 section.
Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery
10941 Southern Blvd., Royal Palm Beach
- Generoso Pope Jr., the media mogul who transformed The National Enquirer into its successful supermarket tabloid form, died in 1988 at age 61 in Manalapan. He relocated the tabloid’s headquarters from New York to Lantana in 1971. The inscription on his memorial marker in the St. Matthew section reads: “The Man Who Made Millions and Millions of People Happy.”
- Vic Damone, the pop and big band singer who had hits such as “An Affair to Remember” and “On the Street Where You Live,” died in 2018 at age 89 in Miami Beach. He performed in movies and movie musicals, and became a regular guest performer on variety shows. His fifth wife, Rena Rowan Damone, a fashion designer, businesswoman and philanthropist who died 2016 at age 88, is in the crypt alongside him in the mausoleum at the back of the cemetery.
Mount Nebo Miami Memorial Gardens
5505 NW Third St., Miami
As the “mob’s accountant,” Meyer Lansky helped organize the National Crime Syndicate with his friend, Charles “Lucky” Luciano. He used financial schemes such as money laundering to hide profits and led the expansion of mob-backed casinos in places like Florida, Nevada and Cuba. He served as inspiration for the character Hyman Roth in “The Godfather Part II.” Lansky died in 1983 at age 80 in Miami Beach.
Charles Whitman, the "Texas Tower Sniper," is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park in West Palm Beach. (Kari Barnett/South Florida Sun Sentinel) CHARLES WHITMAN Hillcrest Memorial Park
6411 Parker Ave., West Palm Beach
The Lake Worth Beach native became known as the “Texas Tower Sniper.” On Aug. 1, 1966, the 25-year-old killed his wife and mother before heading to the University of Texas at Austin. There, he randomly shot and killed 14 people and wounded 31 others before he was shot and killed by police.
After years of driveway battles, Isaiah and AJ Brown bring brotherly competition to the Gators
GAINESVILLE — Isaiah and AJ Brown waged war on the driveway of their home in Orlando. The sun had set, and the streetlight flicked as the two brothers, now competing for the Florida Gators, went toe-to-toe, dribbling up the side of the imaginary basketball court.
First, the two played to 11 points, and then, to 15. AJ, Isaiah swore, played the hardest defense of his life, pushing him back. But Isaiah had an ace up his sleeve. He had perfected a trick shot in middle school to better his chances at beating his older brother. So, Isaiah took a step back and threw against the back before the ball ricocheted into the net with a swish.
Isaiah ran into his house as he celebrated the win. “I’m done,” he said.
AJ, though, wasn’t having it, and he pulled Isiah back into the court.
“No,” AJ replied. “We’re going to 21, now.”
AJ and Isaiah Brown are the first pair of brothers on a Florida men’s basketball team since Dwayne and Travis Schintzius in the 1989-90 season. The Browns will face off against each other for playing time on an already stacked Gators roster.
The Browns never strayed much from contention. And, like many younger siblings, Isaiah used basketball as a way to be around AJ.
“It was always the competitive spirit that I loved about it,” Isaiah said. “Just being able to hang out with him.”
The Gators recruited Isaiah and AJ to join coach Todd Golden’s national championship-winning team, a continuous stream of solid basketball players who rotate between resting and playing. The Browns are expected to slot in behind junior Thomas Haugh in the forward position and junior Urban Klavzar and Princeton-transfer Xaivian Lee at guard.
AJ and Isaiah fill in spots with Florida’s scout team, but both have proven themselves. The Browns won back-to-back Class 2A state championships at Orlando Christian Prep, a K-12 private school.
AJ also competed collegiately at Ohio State, where he averaged 11.4 points per game. He’s fairly efficient with the ball in his hands, making 56.6% 2-point shots and 38.8% of his 3-pointers. However, he tore his labrum, the cartilage lining his shoulder socket, against Miami in March. AJ underwent surgery and rehabbed in preparation for the season, but he hasn’t ruled out medically redshirting this season.
“It was encouraging to me just to take my time and then play at my own pace,” AJ said. “But I’ve been going to rehab. I’ve been playing 100%. No problems with it, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Isaiah, on the other hand, joined Florida as a four-star prospect by ESPN, On3 and Rivals (though 247Sports ranked him as a three-star). He competed with the Gators last season and won a national championship, scoring 36 points in 19 appearances.
No matter the distance between the two, one thing remains constant: neither likes losing to the other. The competition amplifies the Browns’ performances, as Florida gears up for its first game against No. 13 Arizona on Nov. 3.
Still, the love between the two hasn’t disappeared. Not entirely.
“It’s the most wholesome competition ever,” Isaiah said. “If I’m the one winning this competition, he’s happy for me. If he’s the one winning the competition, I’m happy. There’s no bad blood either way the competition goes. That’s kind of the best competition to have.”
Florida guard Isaiah Brown, right, celebrates with center Micah Handlogten in the locker room after winning the NCAA Final Four game against Auburn at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas on April 5, 2025. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)Booming baritone Michael Baiamonte to retire as Heat’s PA announcer at season’s end
MIAMI — Ahead of Sunday’s 2025-26 regular-season home opener against the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat announced Saturday that Michael Baiamonte, the second-longest tenured public-address announcer in the NBA, will retire at the end of the season.
Baiamonte, over his first 34 seasons in the job, has announced more than 1,500 games, including six NBA Finals, at both Miami Arena and the facility now known as Kaseya Center.
Known for his booming baritone intonations, his signature calls have included, “Stand up and make some noise!” amid Heat moments of truth and “Dos Minutos” at the ends of quarters.
In a statement, Baiamonte said, “After giving this much thought and consideration, I have decided that this season, my 35th with the Miami Heat organization, will be my last.
“I want to thank the Miami Heat for their understanding and support of my decision as I move to the next chapter of my life with my wife Natalie and our daughters.”
Baiamonte’s overall Heat tenure dates to when he stepped in as the backup announcer on February 21, 1990. In 1991-92, he was hired full time.
Over the years, Baiamonte’s voice has been heard in the NBA 2K’s Take-Two Interactive game, announcing Shaquille O’Neal’s arrival to Miami, hosting the Welcome Event in July 2010 as the Heat ushered in the Big Three era with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, and hosting three NBA championship celebrations.
The Heat will hold a season-long “Mike Drop” campaign in his honor, with a nationwide search for his replacement scheduled to commence in coming weeks.
Dolphins, while at their lowest, try to channel midseason turnarounds of recent years
MIAMI GARDENS — Desperate times can bring the best out of teams.
That would sound great if the Miami Dolphins weren’t already desperate last week against the lowly Cleveland Browns, only to suffer an abysmal 31-6 loss. It was a defeat of the likes that, at 1-6 and in the fourth year of a coach-general manager tandem, would call for immediate change at the top of most franchises.
Not so with the Dolphins, as owner Steve Ross wants to remain patient with coach Mike McDaniel and GM Chris Grier.
McDaniel is paying that patience forward to his quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, keeping him in as the starter after back-to-back three-interception games.
As difficult as it may be to imagine this Dolphins team starting a midseason turnaround, that is what they aim to do, beginning Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Falcons (3-3) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
And it isn’t unheard of in similar situations for recent Dolphins teams.
Just last year, the Dolphins started 2-6. They won six of the next eight to still have a shot at the playoffs entering the regular-season finale.
In 2021, former coach Brian Flores’ last season at the helm, Miami was 1-7 before winning seven consecutive and eight of nine to finish 9-8.
Related Articles- Dave Hyde: Marc Buoniconti’s tragic tackle 40 years ago and the world it changed
- Dolphins likely to face Kirk Cousins at QB for Falcons; Marshall to wait for IR activation
- Game time: Fast facts, odds, injury report for Dolphins at Falcons
- Top Dolphins-Falcons prop bets from Chris Perkins and David Furones
- Dolphins won’t blame locker-room Pop-A-Shot game for bad record
One coach who was on both of those staffs was running backs coach Eric Studesville, and he knows the mindset needed to pull off the 180.
“I think it’s really a mentality of taking everything one step at a time. Don’t get too far. Don’t worry about everything we just had. We got to win today,” Sudesville said this past week. “You can’t fix everything at one time, but everybody can do what they’re supposed to do right now where we are. And let’s fix that one step at a time. I think that’s the answer to it.
“It sounds simple, but it’s really difficult to do when you’re talking about all the different individuals that are incorporated, coaches and players in this, that all of us have to do that at one time. And I do believe that that is the direction everybody here is working for.”
But how does a team do that when there’s so much noise surrounding the poor performances and speculation over coaching changes and trade possibilities?
“I don’t know that there’s any advantage to listening to it,” Studesville said. “So, if there’s no advantage to listening to it, tune it out.”
With coach, GM, quarterback and all assistant coaches remaining in their roles, change could come in the form of lineup alterations Sunday in Atlanta.
Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — Does Miami have a chance vs. Falcons in Atlanta? | VIDEO
“Sometimes, an active decision is no change and sometimes an active decision is change,” McDaniel said. “I’ve got to give you reasons to tune in on Sunday, so I won’t spoil.”
The Falcons appear bound to change quarterbacks, out of necessity. Second-year starter Michael Penix is dealing with a knee injury, and veteran Kirk Cousins is expected to start for him.
Regardless of quarterback, the key for Miami will be for its league-worst run defense to contain elite running back Bijan Robinson.
“Pack mentality,” McDaniel said, “meaning you don’t have this one special guru tackler. You have to be sound, but you have to be urgent. You have to have multiple players in the vicinity, make him stop his feet and have a group of people putting their pads on him at once. If you are in space and he’s coming up on you, you have to shoot your guns and wrap. You can’t just try to knock him down with a shoulder pad, you better wrap up.”
Said defensive line coach Austin Clark: “This guy’s elusive. He can hit any hole, the cutback and, even when you got the numbers, he just breaks tackles. His amount of yards after contact is unbelievable. I’m very impressed by him and their line.”
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver likened Robinson, who is dangerous as a ball carrier and pass catcher, to Marshall Faulk and Chris Johnson.
“We’re going to have to muck this game up a little but for us to go out there and play successful,” Weaver said.
Tagovailoa will try to operate against the league’s No. 1 pass defense while without star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, tight end Darren Waller and with Jaylen Waddle playing through tweaked hamstrings.
“I think we got a lot of guys that can step up in their opportunities,” Waddle said. “They’re in the NFL for a reason. We believe in all our guys to go out there and make plays and contribute to a team win.”
The Dolphins need to play with desperation and urgency, but players say that doesn’t change.
“We’re always urgent,” defensive back Elijah Campbell said. “You shouldn’t need to take whatever the record is, you should attack every week the same. And we have been doing that. A lot of it is media. That’s (the media’s) job, at the end of the day, apply pressure. But we apply pressure on ourselves. We hold a standard that we want to meet, and we haven’t met it. So we’re more hard on ourselves than (anyone).”
Added left tackle Patrick Paul: “We can’t look to the past anymore. We have to just move forward. We have so much season left, and we can turn it around.”
The Dolphins never seem to put a full season together.
While 2021 and 2024 had midseason turnarounds, 2022 and 2023 involved late-season collapses after 8-3 and 9-3 starts, respectively. The 2022 team had a winless December and five-game losing streak before barely sneaking into the playoffs. The 2023 unit blew a three-game lead in the AFC East with five weeks remaining, bowing out to the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the postseason.
DeSantis sets special election for state House in Palm Beach County — after he was sued over delay
Gov. Ron DeSantis has set a special election to fill a vacant state representative seat in Palm Beach County — but he delayed acting for so long that 114,281 registered voters who live in the district won’t be represented in Tallahassee during the 2026 legislative session.
The special general election is set for March 24 — 11 days after the Legislature’s scheduled March 13 adjournment.
In an executive order he filed Friday afternoon with the Secretary of State’s Office, DeSantis also set the special primary for the District 87 seat for Jan. 13. The district is in the central part of the county along the Atlantic coast.
DeSantis set the special primary and general election dates 17 days after a lawsuit was filed seeking a court order compelling him to act.
DeSantis sometimes acts quickly to set dates for special elections and sometimes waits weeks to set the dates. The governor’s office doesn’t respond to questions about his rationale for timing of those elections, and his representatives haven’t responded to inquiries about the District 87 vacancy.
He’s been sued in the past, and has responded by moving quickly to set election dates — avoiding the prospect of a court ordering him to act. That’s what happened with the Palm Beach County special election he set on Friday.
The lawsuit was announced by Democrat Emily Gregory’s campaign, although the candidate didn’t file it herself. The petitioner, similar to a plaintiff, is a supporter and resident of the district, Paula Mcclease. The attorney who signed it, Matthew A. Goldberger, is Gregory’s campaign treasurer.
“We were hopeful the election would be before the next legislative session. We’re disappointed that there won’t be representation for our district,” Gregory said Saturday. “I would like a voice in Tallahassee in the next session but that’s out of our control.”
Republicans have a commanding majority over Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives, so the vacancy is unlikely to affect the outcome on major issues. Not having a representative means there won’t be someone in the House advocating for funding projects in the district.
DeSantis is responsible for the vacancy in the 87th state House district. He appointed then-state Rep. Mike Caruso, a Republican, to fill the vacant job of Palm Beach County circuit court clerk and comptroller. Caruso resigned from the District 87 seat when DeSantis appointed him to the new job on Aug. 18.
DeSantis can fill many vacancies on his own, but he doesn’t have the authority to pick replacements for members of Congress or state Legislature. But he is responsible for setting the dates of the special primaries and special general elections.
On July 21, Blaise Ingoglia resigned from the Florida Senate because DeSantis named him as the state’s new chief financial officer. On July 22, DeSantis set the dates for special primary and general elections to fill the resulting vacancy.
Gregory called the quick action for one vacancy and the delay in another “peculiar.” But, she said, “We’re happy that there was an election called, and we are going to do everything we can to get in front of the voters and share our vision for Florida.”
Related Articles- There’s no sharia law in the state, but South Florida lawmaker files bill to outlaw it anyway
- DeSantis defends new law allowing charter schools to demand free space in public school buildings
- How a transformative change in charter school rules came back from the dead and became Florida law
- Democratic candidate asks court to order DeSantis to set special election in Palm Beach County
- 114,650 voters in Palm Beach County may go without representation in 2026 legislative session
- Republicans divided after Maria Zack wins state representative primary in Palm Beach County
Another Democrat, Laura Ann Levites, has filed paperwork with the Division of Elections to run in the regular 2026 primary in District 87. Republicans Jon Maples and Gretchen L. Miller Feng have also filed to run in their party’s primary.
Typically what happens in such situations is the candidates who’d planned to run in the normal election cycle move up their timetables and run in the special election.
Republican Tracy Caruso, wife of Mike Caruso, is still listed as an active candidate by the Division of Elections, but in September she said she would not run to succeed her husband.
Also on Friday, DeSantis set the special primary and general election dates for a Hillsborough County vacancy created when the governor appointed then-state Sen. Jay Collins to fill the empty post of lieutenant governor.
Palm Beach County will see a flurry of election activity from now through March.
A special general election is Dec. 9 to fill the vacancy left by the death of state Rep. Joe Casello. And most cities, towns and villages in Palm Beach County have their local elections on March 10.
Key datesThe state Division of Elections posted a calendar of election activities that stem from the governor’s actions.
Primary: Deadline to register to vote, Dec. 15; Deadline to request vote-by-mail ballot, Jan. 1; early voting, Jan. 3-10; primary day, Jan. 13.
General election: Deadline to register to vote, Feb. 23; Deadline to request vote-by-mail ballot, March 12; early voting, March 14-21, Election Day, March 24.
Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
Dave Hyde: Marc Buoniconti’s tragic tackle 40 years ago and the world it changed
MIAMI — I am watching a man paralyzed from the neck down lift an artificial arm by merely thinking about do so. I am watching another quadriplegic play drums thanks to similar microchip in his brain.
I am listening to doctors talk of hypothermia protocol, brain-computer interface and how artificial intelligence will help change the wheelchair world.
“What do you think?” a scientist asks.
“This is the greatest sports story of my lifetime,” I say.
Dalton Dietrich looks around as people in wheelchairs talk with doctors and doesn’t see sports. But the scientific director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which is part of the University of Miami, understands.
“Look at all the good since that awful day 40 years ago,” he says.
*
Forty years ago Sunday, Marc Buoniconti made a tackle as a Citadel linebacker took the final step of his life on the 42-yard line of the East Tennessee State football field.
He has said, many times through the years, how he saw his arm flop beside him on the field and couldn’t feel it. He has said, many times, how he immediately knew he was paralyzed.
He has said, as he did to me at the 10th and 15th and 25th and 35th anniversary of his tackle, how he’d purposely stay busy on this day so he wouldn’t think too hard about it. He would, however, reserve a moment to recognize it.
“I call it a celebration,” he said before the 15th anniversary. “I celebrate I’m alive. I celebrate the culmination of what we’ve been able to accomplish and celebrate what we’ll accomplish in the next year. I’m not bitter about what happened. I’m enthusiastic and optimistic for the future.”
He paused, then said, “I think that’s how I stay sane.”
Buoniconti didn’t say anything for this story. He couldn’t. He is too ill, and he’s been ill for a while. He didn’t make the Miami Project’s annual dinner in New York in September. That tells how serious it is, because the dinner is their big fundraiser, the one he and his late father, the great Miami Dolphins linebacker Nick Buoniconti, used as the centerpiece toward their raising hundreds of millions of dollars to build the Miami Project into a top research center for spinal-cord injuries.
“I won’t walk again, but I’ll help others walk,” Marc said before the 25th anniversary.
Listen, you can back up your idea of the greatest sports story with numbers and statistics and maybe you’re right or maybe the guy showing the analytics of another story is right.
But listen to this: Barth Green, the Miami neurosurgeon whose medical vision combined with the Buoniconti’s fund-raising ability to build The Miami Project, is asked how many people walked out of wheelchairs or saw their lives improve dramatically from the day of that tackle 40 years ago.
“Thousands upon thousands,” he said. “But there are millions we need to help.”
Now that’s a sports stat to remember.
“We really launched with Marc,” Green said of The Miami Project. “From the start, he never gave up his leadership position as an international spokesman.”
*
For this 40th anniversary, Scott Roy, The Miami Project’s director of communications, asked the 175 scientists, researches, clinicians and support staff for the project’s top 10 medical and social breakthroughs. His first list had 60 such achievements.
Some are easy to understand like helping paralyzed men to father children for the first time or alleviating the chronic pain that comes with most spinal-cord injuries. Others are like trying to explain color to a blind person. Regeneration of the nervous system. FDA approval of Schwann cell transplantation in clinical trials.
Their idea of hypothermic treatment just needs the video of Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett laying on the ground after a hit in 2007. Within minutes, an intravenous, ice-cold saline solution was administered by doctors — an “ice-pack for his spinal cord,” as Green called it.
That was a Miami Project creation, and maybe it helped Everett walk again. No one can really say. After recovering in Buffalo, Everett visited the Miami Project to thank them and met a man in a wheelchair who years before that treatment was invented had suffered a similar dislocation of the third and fourth vertebrae.
Marc was 42 by then.
“If we’d had that treatment back when I was hurt, maybe I’d be out of this chair,” he once said. “That’s why we’re doing this. I love to see people get out of this chair.”
*
Buoniconti’s wasn’t the only person hurt on that tackle 40 years ago. Herman Jacobs, the East Tennessee running back, walked away a different person.
“For years, I carried such guilt about it,” Jacobs said. “I punished myself, like I was to blame. I played in a semi-pro league after college, but had to quit. I had flashbacks to it. It affected my life.
Twenty-two years after that tackle in 2007, Buoniconti’s former Citadel teammate, Joel Thompson, put Jacobs in touch with Buoniconti.
“I was scared to death to call him,” Jacobs said. “I wasn’t sure how the conversation would go. But he said he didn’t blame me for what happened. He assured me it wasn’t my fault. I started feeling better at that moment, like this heavy weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Buoniconti did something more, too, because he knew Jacobs wasn’t happy with his life direction.
“What is your dream, if you could do anything?” he asked.
“I want to be a chef,” Jacobs said.
Buoniconti invited him to Miami. He took Jacobs on a tour of Johnson & Wales culinary school. He helped Jacobs enroll in the school and had Jacobs live with him for six months. He then got Jacobs an interview with a top chef, Norman Van Aiken, who hired him at the chef’s Coral Gables restaurant.
“Marc’s my brother and he’s inspirational to me,” said Jacobs, who now works in a Tampa restaurant. “He always has time for people, to help them in any way he can. What he did for me, hopefully, one day, I can do for others.”
*
Forty years ago, I was in the newsroom when news of Marc’s injury came and was assigned to write about it. That began a career-long relationship with his story. I went to Charleston, S.C., in 1988 to cover the trial of his failed lawsuit accusing the Citadel team doctors of causing his injury by tying his facemask to his shoulder pads seemingly to help a sore neck.
I stood in the crowd in 2000 as Green and the Buounicontis broke ground for The Miami Project.
“That’s where it happened,” Nick said that day, pointing a mile away at the Orange Bowl. “It was one thought no team could win them all. It was once considered an impossible dream. Like our ’72 Dolphins had (Larry) Csonka and (Jim) Kiick and (Dick) Anderson and (Jake) Scott, the Miami Project has Green and Marc and a team of scientists to do the impossible.”
I watched Marc deliver the introduction at his father’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 2001, interviewed him in his condominium several times, listened to him talk through tears at his father’s memorial in 2019 and saw him go from a scared teenager of 19 to a grown man of 59 with a wife, Cynthia, and several private businesses.
Now I sit in a classroom on the seventh floor of the Miami Project as a neurosurgery resident, Seth Tigchelaar, talked to a small audience of students and donors of the next step being taken. “Neuralink: Restoring autonomy with brain interfaces,” his talk was titled.
Diagrams and photos show a Neuralink chip being implanted in the part of the brain that involved arm movement. A video shows a quadriplegic thinking about moving his arm and a mechanical arm bringing him a cup of water to drink. Another video shows a father who is quadriplegic playing tic-tac-toe with his daughter. Another, the first woman to receive this chip, shows her artwork she can now make.
“There are three patients in Miami that we have worked with,” Tigchelaar said.
There are only 11 such patients worldwide. Tigchelaar talks of the ability in years to come to do thousands of such surgeries a year. The problem is a common one: Money.
“You know how on a great team everyone knows their role?” Marc once said. “Raising money is my job.”
The greatest sports story of them all?
Maybe because it’s far beyond sports.
Start a Home Inspection Franchise With No Experience - 1851 Franchise
Start a Home Inspection Franchise With No Experience 1851 Franchise
Phoenix proptech startup raises $1M to launch AI powered home inspection platform - The Business Journals
Phoenix proptech startup raises $1M to launch AI powered home inspection platform The Business Journals
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
