Ron Springs & Everson Walls

Ron Springs played for the Dallas Cowboys for six seasons. He was a solid player that quietly backed up Tony Dorsett during those six years. Ron still lives in Dallas and is now suffering from diabetes and kidney failure. Ron has been on dialysis trying to get healthy enough to undergo a kidney transplant.

During the search for a kidney donor, it was discovered that Ron's son Shawn, a cornerback for the Washington Redskins, was a match. However, Ron refused to accept his son's kidney. The transplant procedure would have ended Shawn Springs' professional football career. Things weren't looking too good for Ron until an old team mate and friend, Everson Walls, was also found to be a match. Walls has agreed to donate a kidney to his old Cowboy mate.

"Everson Walls is my dad's best friend and somebody who taught me a lot about being a cornerback in the NFL," Shawn Springs said.

Everson Walls ended his career with the New York Giants, and I remember being really upset that he left the Cowboys, because he was one of my favorite players, and he didn't leave under the best of circumstances. Walls went on to get a Super Bowl ring with the Giants under coach Bill Parcells, something Walls would have never achieved with the Cowboys as they were going through some lean years at the time.

Everson is doing a really good thing donating his kidney to a man that probably wouldn't live long without it, so I guess it's time for me to forgive Everson for joining the enemy twenty years ago.