MIAMI — One yard, one crumb of a yard was all that was at stake in the opening minutes of a football game on an autumn Saturday. Running back Herman Jacobs of East Tennessee State wanted to obtain it. Linebacker Marc Buoniconti of the Citadel wanted to stop him.
Two players with little in common except their passion for football intersected. Buoniconti’s neck was dislocated. Jacobs’s heart was broken.
Both were paralyzed by their violent collision, although the toll took different forms. Buoniconti left the stadium in an ambulance, and a doctor confirmed what Buoniconti knew as he had lain numb on the field: He was quadriplegic.