Marino makes another wish come true for fan
When Dan Marino is inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame on Sunday, visitors will include Bucky Hellman, who reveres Marino for more than his on-the-field accomplishments.
BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
Of all the guests on Dan Marino’s Hall of Fame weekend list – and there are hundreds, many of them famous – the one whose presence might reveal the most about Marino’s character is Bucky Hellman.
Hellman didn’t play or coach a minute in the NFL. He was not the recipient of one of Marino’s 420 touchdown passes. In fact, Hellman spent only a few minutes with Marino on Christmas Eve 1994. But that short visit stuck with the former Dolphins star, so much so that when he was making his invitation list for Sunday’s enshrinement ceremony in Canton, Ohio, he included Hellman and his family.
Hellman, you see, wasn’t expected to live to this week. When he met Marino, he was a 17-year-old fulfilling a dream through the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Pittsburgh. Hellman suffers from Friedreich’s Ataxia, a degenerative neurological disease that has caused him to lose use of his limbs.
SPECIAL PIN
He presented Marino with a guardian angel pin during his visit to the Dolphins’ camp, and told Marino: ‘‘This pin will watch over you when I’m gone.’’ Marino gave the kid his sweat shirt and cap, and then excused himself to a nearby room, where he let his tears flow. The next day, and for every remaining game that season, Marino wore the angel on his cap.
When Marino picked out items to include in his glass-encased commemorative locker after his retirement, he chose the cap with the angel pin. ‘‘I thought it was very important to leave that angel in there,’’ Marino said.
Hellman, who turned 28 last month, weeps every time he talks about Marino. His fiancée considered buying them tickets for the Hall of Fame induction as a birthday gift, but Hellman declined, saying they didn’t have enough money and that he would just watch on TV like everyone else.
GOT THE CALL
A week later, his mother, Linda Gardner, got a call from Marino’s assistant, Fudge Browne, informing her that the Hall of Famer had asked that Bucky and his family be guests of the Marino family in Canton.
They got tickets to the enshrinement, hotel rooms and invitations to Marino’s private after-party.
‘I know he’s going to be very busy, but I just want a minute with him to tell him, `Thank you for not forgetting me,’ ‘’ Hellman said by phone Tuesday from his home in Uniontown, Pa. ``I never forgot him, and it’s an honor that he never forgot me. He meets so many people, shakes so many hands, and for some reason, he remembered me. It’s really, really cool.‘’
Hellman says he thinks Marino has a particular soft spot for ill children because one of his six children – son Michael – is autistic. Marino and his wife, Claire, run a foundation that has raised more than $4 million for children in need.
‘‘Dan’s own child is autistic, so he knows where my family is coming from, with me in a wheelchair and my sister, Eugenia, with Down’s syndrome,’’ Hellman said. ``It’s neat that he embraces me like a family member and takes so much of his time to meet Make-a-Wish kids and other kids who are dying. I used to admire him for his football skills, but now I see he really is a great man.‘’
The nation will be reminded how great at 1 p.m. Sunday during the televised Hall of Fame ceremony. Marino and fellow inductee Steve Young will spend the weekend marshaling a parade, schmoozing at brunches, cocktail parties and dinners, and smiling for photographers.
On Sunday night, Marino is hosting an invitation-only celebration. Among the names on the guest list are former players Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Jim Kelly, Nick Buoniconti and Dwight Stephenson, former Dolphins coach Don Shula, team owner Wayne Huizenga, sportscaster Bob Costas and musician Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish.
FAMILY AFFAIR
And Hellman will be there with his mother, sister, fiancée Tara and her children, Dan, Jennifer and Samantha. He went to the dentist Tuesday to make sure his smile was pearly white. His mother was having her finest dress altered for the occasion.
‘‘I can’t get drunk, but I’ll be having a blast and dancing in my chair,’’ Hellman said.
He is bringing Marino another guardian angel pin, and three more for Claire and Marino’s parents. He also will present Marino a framed photo from that special Christmas Eve.
Bucky’s mother wrote Marino a letter, expressing her gratitude.
‘‘Dan is wealthy and famous and all that, but he knows what we go through, and he’s never treated us like poor people,’’ Gardner said. ‘When Bucky heard we were invited to the Hall of Fame, he was flabbergasted. He told me, `Mom, no matter what happens to me, this is something really cool nobody can ever take from me.’ Dan has no idea what this means to Bucky. No idea.‘’