he became the first and to date only nfl player to die on the field tragedy of chuck hughes with thedetroit lions. that game was not stopped. that game went on. the fans sat in stunned silence for much of the rest of that game tragedy, striking the gridiron again in 1978 when darryl stingley was paralyzed in a monday night football game after being hit by the raiders, jack tatum the worst possible situation developed a national television with the nation watching is just awful. it's heartbreaking. it's terrible. it's very disconcerting and devastating. it's kind of a startling image. to see some of these players who you know, are like considered the toughest among us, right, breaking down into tears on the field. we would call them gladiators. we would call them just the strongest of the strong and in this moment they became human. became human. those teenage teammates so emotional because they know what it's taken to mara hamlin to get to where he is. the 24 year old has lost three friends to gun violence. his family has been affected by drug trafficking, and still, he rose above al

he became the first and to date only nfl player to die on the field tragedy of chuck hughes with the detroit lions. that game was not stopped. that game went on. the fans sat in stunned silence for much of the rest of that game tragedy, striking the gridiron again in 1978 when darryl stingley was paralyzed in a monday night football game after being hit by the raiders, jack tatum, the worst possible situation developed a national television with the nation watching is just awful. it's heartbreaking. it's terrible. it's very disconcerting and devastating. hamlin's teammate so emotional because they know what it's taken him to get to where he is. the 24 year old has lost three friends to gun violence. his family has been affected by drug trafficking. and still, he rose above all of that, to make it to where he is in the nfl. we're all hoping and praying that he's going to be okay. well, thank you. as for the bills, bengals game itself illegal, officials said overnight. there are no plans right now to resume the gam our coverage of this story continues on air and online will bring you a

chuck hughes of the lions back in 1971 and more recently 49ers offensive lineman thomas hairian after a preseason game. things have changed since '71 and 2005. how does the nfl respond to this now? >> well, i think the nfl has to take into consideration that, again, this was a perfect storm. you live in a media age, social media, sports media is more sophisticated than ever. and at the same time, this was an accident. this was something that occurred at the point of attack. it wasn't something that occurred in the locker room like thomas hair on. it wasn't something that occurred during a period when you didn't have this saturation media. this player was making a tackle and irrespective of whether his condition has anything to do with football, we don't know what happened. the perception and the image is that it did, and the league is going to have to manage that. they're going to have to deal with it. it's going to be difficult and at the same time, this season is rolling on. there are consequences for this game not being played. and this is, again, something that the league is simpl

also wide receiver chuck hughes remains the only player to die on the field in a game, he was 28 in 1971, team doctors tried to resuscitate him but declared dead at the hospital. a short while later the cause of death was a blot clot caused by a hardened artery in his heart. violent game but many people suffered many injuries. >> now it's not clear if the nfl will postpone or cancel the bills game this weekend. there's no thursday night football tonight so players return to the field on saturday for the first time since hamlin's hit. so here's how the dallas cowboy's head coach said how the team is handling it now. >> let's be honest, nobody is fine. we all have the tendency to say we're good. that's where our mind is, focus is, after great confidence we'll get done what we needed. but most importantly stating the obvious if we need to adjust we'll adjust. >> so joining us rodney thomas ii, a close friend and former high school teammate of damar. he drove from indianapolis to cincinnati to visit him in the hospital. we're happy you're here, sorry you're dealing with this. obviously that

a player named chuck hughes, but detroit lines, back in the 70s died on the field. jt cain, who was the receiver for the then st. louis cardinals playing in arizona. similar thing during training camp. but nothing exactly like this. the play did not look that out of the ordinary. people might think of the watch the games that there was some sort of helmet to helmet contact. the young man, the bar hamblin, made the tackle -- tee higgins, the receiver for the bengals. actually hits him in the chest. nothing dirty about the play, according to the rules. this kind of contact happens all the time in football. but hamlin, actually, although he made the tackle took the brunt of the collection. squarely in his chest. you wouldn't think, if you watch what football, that was anything that unusual about that. but he got up, took a couple of steps, wobbled, hand fell backwards. as you said a moment ago, they came out on the field, they administer cpr. you could tell by the expressions on the faces of players from both teams, his bills teammates, and the opponents on the bengals

everybody will have learned by tonight, they haven't already, that chuck, hughes detroit lions playerin 1971, that came continued. people remember back to 1997, reggie brown also with the lions was laid out with the serious spinal cord injury, lost his ability to breathe on the field. it was taken away. that game continued, there is an arena football league player of lucas i believe a few years ago who also collapsed and died on from injuries in the game. that came continued. tonight, maybe our sensibilities have matured a little bit. >> kevin, i just want to check with you because i mentioned chuck used ks to rachael to begin a discussion. another thing i said at the beginning is that in my memory of the nfl, they have never stopped the game, stop playing we're not gonna continue play because of an injury. do you have any recollection of them ever doing that? >> i don't, i don't, and chuck uses just a story that's in my mind, i actually don't remember, that i vaguely remember reggie brown. i'll tell you i wasn't if c championship game between the ravens and the steelers, i believe 20

my wife as a little girl was at a lions game when the one time a player die in the a nfl game, chuck hugheshappened since, nicolle. remember that move "while you were sleeping"? when this young man woke up, he's going to slowly find that he became the most beloved and popular athlete in the country. i have been thinking about this all day. how many times do we get a story in sports that makes the whole country want to stand up and cheer? and that is what everybody felt when we got some good news about this young man this morning. this to me -- here we were monday night at 9:00, and where we are today around 6:00, it has a chance to be one of the best and most wonderful and most inspiring sports stories i can ever remember. >> you are so right. his charity as a toy drive raise thousands. i think it's raised a multiple, 7 million, 7 million, $8 million, maybe more than that. and to doctor gupta's point, the medical story. i have to say, dr. gupta, you inspired me. i am now cpr and first aid certified. if you think you know it, you don't. because every place has defibrillators. i was a life gu