His donor is his girlfriend. The surgery is set for March 3, the second anniversary of the day they met. The couple is asking for privacy on her name, which is just about right.
How great is Anderson’s lady? She secretly underwent tests to see if she was a match. When he found out that she not only was a match, but the perfect one, he didn’t want her to do it. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“It sure is,” says Anderson of this movie that bull-rushed its way past the medical books. “Crazy. The prognosis is good. They said the living donor prognosis is way higher. And so many people who have hit me said they’ve gone through the same thing and how great their lives are.”
Since the video, Anderson found out two of his high school teammates from their days in Mobile, Ala., have had the procedure. Chuck Smith, the Falcons ace pass rusher from the Willie Era, has a sibling who went through it. James Rapien, who covers the Bengals for SI.com, is married to a nurse who is a transplant coordinator and let him know he’ll feel brand new.
And, despite fatigue and erratic blood pressure, Anderson is continuing to do what he can. As CEO and chief clinician of the Willie Anderson Offensive Linemen Academy, he returned to his hometown last month for the Senior Bowl to monitor some of his students, as well as current trench trends.
He also recently went on Bengal Jim Foster’s podcast, where analyst Joe Goodberry echoed Anderson’s case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s that season.
Earlier this month, the Hall denied Anderson on his fifth straight trip to the finals. But he did well enough to qualify for a sixth next year, and Anderson’s video spawned renewed Canton support.
After his post, this one came from pro football historian Ryan Michael:
“Anderson was the point man for 21 individual 1,000-yard seasons, 12 through the air and nine on the ground, underscoring the breadth of his impact in both phases of offensive production … His tape reveals a technician with balance, hand placement, and recovery ability, traits that translated into week-to-week reliability against elite rushers.
“Measured by Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value (AV), he owns the highest career mark by a right tackle in AFC history … a quantitative affirmation of what the film already shows: a cornerstone player whose performance set the gold standard at the right tackle position.”