Happy Thanksgiving

I wrote a story today about the shooting of St. Louis Rams receiver Stedman Bailey and how some of his friends on the Steelers reacted to it.

Bailey’s unfortunate circumstance got me to thinking about another athlete who suffered a bullet wound to the head and how he returned to sports and excelled.

Football is the least of Bailey’s worries for the moment, but if he’s looking for some inspiration as he recovers all he has to do is look north to Tampa and the head coach at the University of South Florida.

Orlando Antigua was wounded in a random shooting in 1987 when he was 16. After healing he went on to earn a basketball scholarship to Pitt. I wrote this story in 2006 when Antigua reached out to Duquesne basketball player Sam Ashalou after he was shot in the head at an on-campus party.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.