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New York|He Nearly Died on the Football Field. Is That Why Everybody Loves Him?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/nyregion/damar-hamlin-buffalo-bills-cardiac-arrest.html
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A surge of fans swarmed and gawked as the A-listers funneled through a convention hall in New York over the summer. Stars like Tom Brady, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Kevin Durant, DJ Khaled were there, all pumping energy and hype into Fanatics Fest, a sports, music and culture jam that drew over 125,000 people.
Causing only a slightly smaller commotion was a football player who drew his own crowd of admirers. They jostled for selfies. They handed him their children and reached out to pat him on the back as security guards struggled to hold back all that love.
Before Jan. 2, 2023, Damar Hamlin would have breezed through the Javits Center almost unnoticed, a promising if little-known young defensive back for the Buffalo Bills. But on that harrowing night he became one of the most famous athletes in the United States: the football player who died on the field and came back to life.
It was strangely warm that evening in Cincinnati, when the Bills played the Bengals in the last hours of a long New Year’s weekend. In the first quarter, Hamlin made a routine tackle, the kind players make every game. But on that night, the blow stopped Hamlin’s heart.
He stood up briefly, then collapsed on his back. As people spotted the urgent response from medical staff and absorbed the gravity of the moment, an eerie silence enveloped the stadium.
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