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The aftermath of the Kevin Everett injury - cpardue/Flickr.com

Review of ‘Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story’

Over the course of the 2007 football season, I along with America became captivated by the story of Kevin Everett. The Buffalo Bills tight end battled through a life-threatening spinal injury to regain the use of his arms and legs.

It’s truly an amazing story, but through the whole process, I didn’t learn much about Everett himself. The details of the hypothermia treatment and surgery all came out in the Sports Illustrated article, but Sam Carchidi’s book “Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story” tells us much more.

Carchidi gained personal access to Everett’s fiancé Wiande Moore, mother Patricia, sisters, former coaches, Bills staffers, medical personnel and of course, Kevin himself.

The book of course covers the injury from the perspectives of everyone involved. An interesting thing Everett points out is that he should have been blocked on the play. Instead, Everett, the team’s wedge buster, ran clean through the blockers leading to his collision with Domenik Hixon.

I really enjoyed hearing all the comments from his teammates. To fans, most of them are just players we know nothing about. We know their stats, their skills, but not who they are off the field. Most notably, Brian Moorman, Robert Royal, Trent Edwards and Roscoe Parrish provide the thoughts that went through their heads as Everett lay motionless on the turf.

Before the injury, I knew next to nothing about Everett. I knew he was a third-round draft pick out of Miami, who was supposedly fast, but didn’t seem to get much playing time. The book gives a solid biography of his whole life.

Little did I know that Everett was so highly regarded by his coaches at the high school, junior college, college and pro levels. He’s described as having one of the best work ethics on the team, while being a player that stays out of trouble.

I always assumed his playing time was limited by his blocking ability. However, the book tells that Everett was one of the best blocking tight ends in Miami history.

Carchidi also tells how Everett is a family man. He clearly has a strong bond with his mother and acts like a father figure for his three younger sisters.

The climax of the book is definitely Everett’s Christmas time return to Buffalo before the Giants game. Here’s an excerpt:

“Edwards couldn’t contain his glee — and surprise—at how much progress Kevin had made. ‘The last time I saw him on the field, it was a pretty devastating sight,’ he said. Edwards was teary-eyed as he watched Kevin make his way around the locker room before the game and spend time with his teammates. ‘I couldn’t stop looking at him,’ Edwards said. ‘It’s very remarkable, and I’m not surprised that a guy that strong can get through an injury like that, both physically and mentally. That says a lot about the individual he is.’”

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about Everett in the process. I highly recommend this book to Bills fans, football fans and anyone interested in a great story of a man beating the odds to battle a spinal injury.

The book is availble in book stores and here on Amazon.com.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Kevin Everett, Book review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.