“Here’s a man of faith and he just doesn’t talk it. He does it. To me, that means more than the game. And it’s a great game because it gives us this platform.”
At their latest fund raiser at Music Hall back in June, more than $370,000 was raised for the Dalton foundation’s efforts to provide daily support, opportunities, resources and life-changing experiences to Cincinnati’s seriously ill and physically-challenged children and their families.
But while Brody’s family watched others raised up economically, they were boosted emotionally by the Daltons. They live in West Chester. Ric is a speech therapist at the Mason schools. Andy is a machinist. They also have twins and an autistic 14-year-old. A date night? Impossible until someone told Ric about the Dalton’s Date Night for parents with special children. And, yes, Andy Dalton. She had heard of him because he was Brody’s favorite. Ric and her Andy hadn’t been on a date in who knew how long as they came to grips with Brody’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Don’t bother to Google it. Brody plans on defying what it says. When he was born they were basically told to go home and love him. Then they were told he could possibly live into his mid-teens. Now there are those that live beyond 20. On his 15th birthday, the same day Green turned 31 this year, Brody spent time with Dalton after a training camp practice in the Bengals wheelchair boasting Dalton’s signature. On one of his birthdays, Dalton sent Brody a video birthday message.
“For Andy, it was just 15 seconds. But for Brody, it was 15 years,” Ric says.
Whitworth, Boyd and Green have their memories of Dalton. So does Ric Muskopf.
It was at one of the foundation’s Celebrity Waiter Nights, where his teammates help out Dalton and raise money. Brody was in heaven. There was A.J. Green, right there. And he was sitting next to Dalton looking at a mountain of steak at some pretty pricey eatery.
“Brody was just kind of looking at that food like, ‘Hell, no am I eating any of that,’” Ric says. “Andy asked him, ‘Dude, what is it that you want? What do you eat?’ And Brody said, ‘Chicken nuggets and fries.’”
No problem. Dalton called over a real waiter and gave him the order and the guy looked at him like he saw a zero blitz. But the order soon arrived.
“As they were eating dinner Andy kept reaching over and stealing a fry and dipping it in Brody’s ketchup and eating it,” Ric says. “It’s one of my favorite memories. For Brody, it was ‘Oh my gosh. I’m eating French fries and ketchup with Andy Dalton.’”
Another Sunday. Another drive to the yard. Another game.
But maybe not.
“We can think we know exactly how we want our life to go, know exactly how our career can go, exactly how all the different phases of your life go,” Dalton said. “But you never know what’s going to happen. You have to trust that God’s got you, and that’s what we’re living in right now. That’s what we’re believing and trusting in.”
Where ever Dalton’s next stop is, Brody Hammons is going to come down and watch him when he parks in the visitor’s lot. But they’ll both have a piece of this town dipped in ketchup.
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December 27, 2019 at 08:09AM
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Even If Sunday Is Dalton's Last Stand, He Leaves A Piece Of Himself - Bengals.com
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