He actually dislocated his knee and had permanent damage to his peroneal nerve. The brace he wore was because of "drop foot" due to the nerve damage. We had to watch video of his knee injury in our athletic training class at State.
He was going early. Destroyed his knee. Almost lost his lower leg that night. Had drop foot after that and couldn’t play anymore. That was the reason for the brace to lift his foot. Great guy! His stories about Tylertown Pentecostal peanut brittle were hilarious.
I have met him several times. I have not talked to him in about 6 years and forgot exactly what happened.
I really think that you would have to hear Bill tell it, but it was the first, maybe only, time that I heard anyone associate Pentecostals with peanut brittle. And he was a funny dude who could tell a story. It was while we were still in college, so it was just too long for me to recall specifics. Basically it would start with a discussion about religion, continue into something funny about his experience with the Pentecostals in his hometown and end with something like, "...but man they could make some peanut brittle, they were ALWAYS selling that peanut brittle."
Did his death have anything to do with his liver transplant? Do you know?
I haven't talked to him in decades, so I don't have any first hand knowledge. I read somewhere that it was complications from the liver transplant. I can't recall exactly where I saw it.
