Washingtonian - The Oral History of Joe Theismann's Broken Leg

[Dan T.]

Anybody of a certain age - Redskins fan or not - remembers the horrific moment on Monday night, November 18, 1985. 

 

Washingtonian's October issue carries this fascinating if harrowing recounting of that fateful night in the words of those involved -the players.. Joe, L.T, Harry Carson, Jeff Bostic, Joe Jacoby. Clint Didier and others; training and medical staff; Frank Herzog and other media members; fans, and others. 

 

Included is a clip of the play, which I recommend not watching, but if so, only at your own peril.  There is also a fairly gruesome description of the aftermath involving a referee as told by Clint Didier, which isn't for the faint of heart.

 

But there's also bravery, pathos, and even humor in the piece.  Well worth the read... 

 

 

 

The trouble began only a quarter through the game. Theismann got the ball near the 50-yard line, but he couldn’t find a receiver. Meanwhile, two vicious Giants defenders were streaking toward him from opposite directions. He moved upfield to try to escape. But Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor—the most terrifying pass rusher of his generation—pounced on him from behind.

 

Taylor’s 243-pound frame crashed awkwardly into Theismann’s right leg. Just like that, the two major bones below his knee snapped and one came jutting through his skin.

 

For millions of sports fans, the image of Taylor sacking Theismann at RFK Stadium is as fresh today as it was 30 years ago. Back then, before cable packages and DVRs and TV-when-you-want-it, Monday Night Football was a shared national experience. Games were broadcast coast to coast; America dropped everything and tuned in. The stadium’s 53,371 fans weren’t the only witnesses to the collision between Taylor and Theismann—the entire country was watching. Never before had such a gruesome injury been seen by so many.

 

“When I go to speak someplace,” former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs says, “almost every time there will be somebody who will come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I remember the night Joe got hurt.’ ”

Extraordinary as it was then, the event’s notoriety has only grown in the decades since. This is the story behind the most horrific professional sports injury of all time and the athletes, movie stars, and media celebrities who turned it into an unlikely cultural touchstone.

 

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/sports/the-oral-history-of-joe-theismanns-broken-leg/index.php

[The Rook]

That is freaking great. The different viewpoints bring it to life.

 

I was at the game.  I was in the corner, maybe quarter way up.  We couldn't tell what had happen, just that it was bad. 

 

This was during the days when people brought in portable TV's (which used about 75 C batteries) to watch the replays.  As the replays were shown, you could hear groans from numerous places in the stadium.  Someone behind me about three rows had one of those TV's, so I was able to see the replay there.

 

Final note - they took him out the tunnel I was beside.  I remember thinking, as I looked down at him when he went out, "He will be back, but I don't think he will play again."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rook

[pjfootballer]

Loved the article. I was 17 when it happened.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

That was an interesting article.

 

One question I have: If that happened today, would they have been able to save his career?

 

Granted, he was 36 at the time, but it would be interesting to know what advances they have made in these situations.

[Riggo-toni]

Cathy Lee - "well, I guess your punting career is over...."

[Mr. Sinister]

I remember reading LT's book where he talked about the incident and hiw Theismann was going ballistic screaming and cursing the Giants players. Pretty crazy stuff

[Ghost of]

That was an interesting article.

 

One question I have: If that happened today, would they have been able to save his career?

 

Granted, he was 36 at the time, but it would be interesting to know what advances they have made in these situations.

 

When you see how Willis McGahee came back from an absolutely brutal knee injury to play again, and that even Kevin Ware and Paul George have come back (meaning, at all) from compound fractures, you'd have to think after a year off, Theismann could at least have suited up.  Was part of it that after that he didn't want to play anymore?  

[Alexa]

I was actually there that night. The people behind us had a small portable tv. They started screaming when ABC did the replay. We asked them could we see it if they played it again and they cut the tv off and said, "it's bad."

Theismann was having a terrible year at the time and was hearing it from the fans. But I always wondered how much long Theismann would have played had he not had such a devestating injury.

[ANONYMOUS SOURCE.]

Terrific article! We were watching the game as a family on our one TV( remember those days lol) and everyone was in shock, my mother was in tears because she felt so bad for Joe. Almost like Pro Football lost its innocence, or at least its public illusion of it.

[Rskins06]

He did want to play again, I believe the Browns tried but he was unable to pass the physical. I remember seeing highlights, I was working at Hardee's ($3.35 per hour:)) and heard about it on way home. IT WAS UGLY!!

[Riggo-toni]

Theismann was awful that year, and Schroeder absolutely lit it up once he took the field. If we had benched Joey T a game or 2 earlier he would still have 2 good legs and we would have made the playoffs. The next year Schroeder set the single season franchise yardage record.

[Riggo'sRangers]

This is greatness.  Nice post. I was throwing in a dart tournament (with eyes glued to the game) and as soon as I saw it, I was certain it was catastrophic. Joe was having a rough year.  It was a perfect ending to his career.  Seriously, is there a better was to "retire", than an injury that lives in lore, for evermore?  Hail

[London Skins]

Anybody of a certain age - Redskins fan or not - remembers the horrific moment on Monday night, November 18, 1985. 

 

 

Absolutely, and not just in America. 1985 was when the game began to take off on UK screens, and was the first season I was watching. We had a whole weeks football crammed into a one-hour highlights show so it was non-stop action from around the League.  All fast and furious to the point where very few moments stuck in the memory from those early years.  Maybe a TD from the Fridge, or a Ickie Woods shuffle, but those first few years were just a blurr of plays and excitement.

 

The one exception was THAT injury.  To UK fans who go back that far, that's pretty much all you need to say, "THAT injury". We were new to the game, we didn't know a great deal about Joe Theismann, but that was a play, a moment that is etched on the brain.  No-one who saw it will ever forget it.

 

It probably played a large part in why I became a 'Skins fan.  The UK fan base have all pretty much chosen teams for a variety of reasons, or moments that drew us to a team, as opposed to it being based around where we live. In my case, I found myself pulling for the Redskins and Jay Schroeder in what must have been an unbelievable moment to step into. How do you feel as Jay the next time you see LT coming round the tackle at you? We won that game, incredibly only lost one more that season (49ers?) and I was hooked. The 'Skins were my team!

[Bang]

I remember it well..   back in those days ES was just a small site. (really, just a few of us with strings tied between soup cans. if you got out of line, Jumbo would cut your string for a week and you weren't allowed to start any conversations for 3 months.) Right after it happened, i remember logging on to read the threads about why Joe should have been benched.

After all, he had thrown 16 interceptions so far that season, and Gibbs had not won a Super Bowl in 3 years.

Man, everyone wanted to run them out of town, and really, when Joe tweeted out that picture of himself with Kathy Lee Crosby, ,, man,, the fans just went nuts because he showed that he had the worst character of any pro football player ever discussed on this board, and how that proved that Bobby Beathard and Joe Gibbs were just liars who blew smoke up our butts for saying we wanted high character guys.

It was actually pretty amazing how far it took off, considering in those days to tweet a picture meant you actually had to tie a polaroid to a bird's leg and let it fly around to all your followers.

 

Then Jay Schroeder came in and threw a couple of touchdowns and everyone loved him and said he should have been the starter all along, and when we finally fired Liar Gibbs and Awful-Person-Enabler Beathard that we would be unstoppable and never lose another game.

Then the next week we beat the Steelers, but Schroeder only threw for like 175 and 1 TD, so instantly everyone swore he sucked, and Gibbs was an idiot for bringing him on and he was just a game manager..  

Meanwhile Joe Theismann was just getting out of the hospital and accidentally shared an inspirational bible quote on his facebook page, and MAN did the S hit the fan.

Which was pretty amazing considering it was 1985 and facebook was still just a newsletter than came in the mail 430 times a day.

But man oh man, sports talk picked up on it, and i can remember Ken Beatrice saying this was why the Redskins could never win,

and that gibbs had no control over his locker room, and then the next week came and the 49ers just CRUSHED the Redskins and former fan fave Schroeder threw 2 INTs and everyone absolutely hated him forever more after that.

And even though we went 10-6, we missed the playoffs and everyone wanted Gibbs fired because he was such an obvious loser.

 

Ahh,,  seems like hardly anything has changed.

 

~Bang

[TimmySmith]

Add me to the list who was there.  The guy in front of us had a portable TV so we saw the replays. Nothing like that had ever been shown on TV before that I could remember.  The Schroeder comes out and throws a 50 yard pass on the 1st play and we all forgot about the mess we just saw.

[skins island connection]

 I haven't looked at the link yet, but I will.

 

 I was in my early 20's, at a bowling night tourney.

 Of course the game was on the tv they had right above the counter, and after I did my turn [ 4 man group ] I went back up to watch the game.

 I watched it live, and at first it seemed like a typical sack, but seeing taylor or Carson, can't remember who it was, waving his arms crazily trying to get attention to the Redskin sidelines that they needed to get in there quick.

Then the replays began, and I think it was Gifford who said ' folks if you're squeamish, turn your heads', or something to that effect, god it was awful. I just stood there, the guys yelling to me its my turn but I just stood there, watching in disbelief. After about 5 minutes, word spread in the place and I looked around and there were about 40-50 people watching. Most were grossed out, but there was 1 asshole who laughed, and he was on our team; his name was Rick.

I told him he was a sorry p.o.s. and left. But i'll never forget that night, and for all the hate he gets from some people, he was a true Redskin, who brought the first SuperBowl Championship to the Redskins, and for that he'll ALWAYS be 'the man'.

[Airyx]

 

 

 

I was there. I was 16.

 

We couldn't tell what was going on from the stands, but the lady in front of me had a little portable TV. She didn't show us the replay, but she told us what had happened in the most glib way you could imagine. She said "he broke his tib and his fib" in a sing-song tone of voice like Mary Poppins.

 

I also remember looking across at Cathy Lee with my binoculars. Somebody leaned over to say something to her, she jumped up and ran out of the owner's box.

 

I lived in the same neighborhood as Joe right up to when he moved out to be with Cathy Lee. I knew his kids Joey and Amy and his ex-wife Sherry.

[RFKFedEx]

I was 8. Mom MADE me go to bed before 9:00, minutes before kickoff. For the better part of an hour, I successfully hid around the corner from the living room, just within ears reach of the game audio from the tv. Then it hit. The EEEWS and OMGs from my parents, and grandparents that night were unforgettable. I never got around to actually seeing the play until I was well into my 20s, and the internet era.

 

Imo, NFL Films and media held back for several years, especially after the criticism of ABC for showing it so many times during the telecast. .

[Dan T.]

I was 8. Mom MADE me go to bed before 9:00, minutes before kickoff. For the better part of an hour, I successfully hid around the corner from the living room, just within ears reach of the game audio from the tv. Then it hit. The EEEWS and OMGs from my parents, and grandparents that night were unforgettable. I never got around to actually seeing the play until I was well into my 20s, and the internet era.

 

Imo, NFL Films and media held back for several years, especially after the criticism of ABC for showing it so many times during the telecast. .

 

 

The article points out is that a whole new, post-Internet generation became familiar with the incident by virtue of it being the introduction to the movie "The Blind Side."

[50yrSKINSfan]

I hate seeing posts like this, brings back bad memories. I hate the Giants and LT. I don't care what LT says he tried to hurt Joe. He twisted him while that other slug HC held his legs. I have had Giant fans say it was cool what LT did to Joe and that is why I hate Giant fans more than any other NFL fans. I wish we could knock "Eli the prayer" out  for a season or two. I know we knocked him out of a game one time but it was the last game of the season I think. I thanked god when LT got hurt and again when he went to jail. Hope he goes to jail again and rooms with OJ. 

[pjfootballer]

^^Alrighty then.

[RFKFedEx]

Wags his rolled up newspaper

 

GET OFF MY LAWN!

[Mr. Sinister]

For someone who clearly wanted to mess up Theismann intentionally, Taylor sure did put on one hell of a show, showing remorse/shock, motioning for the trainers, walking around in disbelief, then going to see him while he was in the hospital.

Yup. Clearly malicious. Then the blatant hypocrisy afterwards. Congrats.

[China]

That x-ray of his leg after it was set is telling.  The bones are quite misaligned.   There's no way he would ever be the same.

[NickyJ]

I remember it well..   back in those days ES was just a small site. (really, just a few of us with strings tied between soup cans. if you got out of line, Jumbo would cut your string for a week and you weren't allowed to start any conversations for 3 months.)

"No new threads" makes a whole lot more sense with this explanation.