Again...
In OSG Sports continuing relationship with the Hall of Fame Players Classic and Foundation, here's another story from Reid Slider on one of the Buffalo Bills best ever making a 213-mile trek for a worthy cause...
Joe DeLamielleure was given a plaque after the 1973 East West Shrine Game that read “Strong legs run so that weak legs may walk.” No one could have known the effect that those words would have on him 40 years later. That quote would be the beginning of something amazing.
All this started 10 years ago...
Joe DeLamielleure, who is fondly known as "Joe D." is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2003. Even then, he says he knew that he wanted to walk to the Hall of Fame on the 10th anniversary of his induction. He was in a class of all-time greats, including Marcus Allen, Elvin Bethea, James Lofton, and Hank Stram. He knew that the annual Enshrinement Induction Ceremony was something he always wanted to participate in every year in Canton stating he’d be there, “even if I had to walk.” He’d actually planned on walking all the way from Charlotte, N.C., but his wife told him it was too far, so he settled on Buffalo, 213 miles from Canton, as his starting point.
For DeLamielleure, he has to keep doing amazing things. He said he doesn’t want his children and grandchildren to talk about him playing in the NFL. He wanted them to say, “That guy is nuts. He rode 2,000 miles on a bicycle and then a few years later walked to Canton”. Joe D. wanted his walk on the 10th anniversary of his induction to have meaning- to benefit someone in need. He’d looked into multiple causes, such as raising funds and awareness to shoe banks that help those less fortunate get adequate shoes but nothing seemed to feel right.
This past fall a friend from Charlotte, N.C. told him about a remarkable local 20-year-old boy named Joey Funderburk, who was born in Romania without legs because of a rare birth defect. Joey had been walking on the same prosthetics since age 8, and they could barely support his adult weight, which was a very dangerous situation. DeLamielleure’s friend listened to the story Joey and his mother told, and was so impressed that he introduced them to Joe D. in hopes that he could help.
As DeLamielleure listened to this young mans and his adoptive mothers story, he thought to himself “this is your calling. This is what you’re supposed to do.” As Joe D. learned after befriending Joey the problem with prosthetic limbs is that as children grow new ones are typically required every three to five years, with the cost being around $120,000. After the age of 18, obtaining new prosthetic becomes even more difficult due to insurance issues. Since then, DeLamielleure has gotten to know Joey even better, fondly referring to them as “just a couple of Joes.” First of 2013, he partnered with Grace’s Lamp Foundation to help those like Joey in need receive new prosthetic limbs.
DeLamielleure knows that the 213-mile trip won’t be easy. For one, his feet, like many other former NFL players, are damaged from playing on AstroTurf for so long. He’s a size 13, but is forced to wear size 14 shoes because of his foot problems. But he’s been busy preparing and is not about to let a foot issue slow him down. Joe D. walks over 2 hours, an estimated 10 miles, every morning. As he told me yesterday one way he has prepared for the walk is walking to Catholic Mass, every morning at 7AM. He gets there “sweating and stinking like a pig,” in his words, and then walks back home.
Another interesting twist to the story is the trip is being planned by Joe DeLamielleure’s college roommate, and former director of the Secret Service, Eljay Bowron. Bowron rode bikes with Joe DeLamielleure and another Michigan State teammate, John Shinsky, who, like Joe D., has a very big heart. The bike ride was to raise money for the orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico. Shinsky is an orphan himself set a goal when he was 18 that someday, he’d build and fund his own orphanage as his way of giving back.
Together the three roommates traveled 2,000 miles on bikes to raise the final funds for the now completed City of the Children orphanage. When discussing the walk that starts at Buffalo Bills' Ralph Wilson Stadium on July 10. The plan is to walk about 20 miles per day and end on the steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on July 20th. Eljay Bowron again stepped forward and has overseen the planning as well as will be accompanying his former roommate saying to Joey D “if I can get the President through a street corner, I can certainly get you to Canton.”
To follow Joe D’s daily adventures he you can read his blog on http://hofplayersclassic.com/events.html. If you would like to show your support Joey D is asking his supporters to donate $.05 cents a mile to support the Grace’s Lamp Foundation at www.graceslamp.org
Here's coverage of the start from WIVB-TV
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