Chucky Mullins

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Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins (July 8, 1969 in Russellville, Alabama – May 6, 1991 in Oxford, Mississippi) was an American football player at Ole Miss ( University of Mississippi ) best known for the courage and indomitable will to continue his life after a devastating football injury that left him paralyzed below the neck.

Mullins was injured on October 28, 1989, during the Ole Miss Rebel's Homecoming game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Oxford, Mississippi. As Mullins tackle Vandy fullback Brad Gaines after a short pass, the collision shattered four vertebrae in his cervical spine and paralyzed him instantly.

After being airlifted to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, Mullins underwent a tracheotomy and a five-hour bone graft operation to fuse his vertebrae. However, he never regained feeling below his neck, leaving him a quadriplegic.

As soon as the injury occurred, Mullins became the recipient of a huge outpouring of community support. Ole Miss fans, college football fans in the South and people from all over the nation immediately began to donate money towards Mullin's growing medical expenses. Soon, Ole Miss established the "Chucky Mullins Trust Fund" to properly manage the donations. The City of Oxford donated land for a specially-designed handicap accessible house for Mullins. Donations to the trust fund eventually exceeded USD $1 million.

But it was only Chucky's body that was injured, not his spirit. Mullins returned to Ole Miss on June 20, 1990 to complete his undergraduate studies. However, less than a year after returning to school, Mullins was stricken by a pulmonary embolism, caused by blood clots formed by inactivity and poor circulation. He died in the hospital on May 6, 1991 and was buried outside his home town of Russellville, Alabama.

During Mullins' time in the hospital, he and Gaines, who did not know each other before the incident, became close friends. Every year since Chucky's death, Gaines, alone, has visited and maintained his friend's gravesite three times a year: May 6 (the anniversary of Mullins' death), October 28 (the anniversary of the injury) and December 25 (Christmas Day). Brad Gaines continues this personal tradition to this day.

Each spring, during the annual Red-Blue scrimmage (a game at the end of spring practices pitting Ole Miss players against each other), the senior defensive player who most embodies Chucky Mullins' spirit and courage receives the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award". With the award, the player receives the right to wear jersey number 38, the same number Chucky wore on his jersey. Chucky's number 38 has since been retired, and the winner of the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award" will wear a patch in honor of this award. His number is only the second number in Ole Miss history to be retired. The only other was the legendary Archie Manning's number 18.

Mullins' story was memorialized in a documentary film, Undefeated: The Chucky Mullins Story.