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Dallas Cowboys Staffer Paralyzed; Republican Rebranding; Laura Bush Back in Spotlight; Tony Dungy Tackles Life after Football; Chrysler Car Owners Reminisce about Glory Days
Aired May 03, 2009 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the storm that caused an entire stadium to collapse has also tragically injured a member of the Dallas Cowboy staff. Late word tonight on his condition.
Publicity blitz. The GOP out in force today, trying to change the party's image and causing controversy along the way.
End of an era. With Chrysler on life support, many Americans fear the "muscle car" could go the way of the Model T.
And the life and times of an American hero. A football coach that broke barriers in the NFL and the world -- Tony Dungy is tonight's African-American first.
The news starts right now.
Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the world headquarters in Atlanta.
It is unforgettable video that has the whole nation talking -- the fierce thunderstorm that blasted the Dallas Cowboys' training facility and caused it to collapse. Well, tonight, we have learned tragic new information about the serious injury suffered in this horrific accident. Here's how it looked from inside.
(VIDEO CLIP)
Twelve people were hurt and not everyone managed to escape the falling metal framework. Well, the Cowboys say 33-year-old scouting assistant Rich Behm is permanently paralyzed from the waist down because of -- he fractured his spine when that canopy collapsed. He underwent surgery last night to stabilize the fracture. And at this hour, he remains in stable condition.
Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones has issued a statement tonight about Rich Behm and here's what he has to say.
He said, "To the Behm family, we extend our love, comfort and the full support of every person and resource within the organization. Rich is a courageous member of our family and someone for whom we care deeply. We ask for all friends and fans of the Dallas Cowboys to join us in embracing him and his family with their thoughts and prayers at this very difficult time."
The Cowboys say Rich Behm practiced his 10th thoracic -- I should say, fractured his 10th thoracic vertebra which severed his spinal cord and caused permanent paralysis from the waist down.
Now as we watch some of the new video we have received from the moments after the storm passed, I want to bring in CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to tell us about this.
Doctor, 33 years old, in the prime of your life and then all of a sudden you're paralyzed.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): It's a terrible injury. You know, it's the 10th thoracic vertebra. When you think about the spine, Don, you sort of have the cervical vertebra, which is your neck, the lumbar vertebra, which is you lower back, and everything sort of in the middle behind your chest and behind your lungs is the thoracic spine.
There are 12 bones in that spine and this is the 10th one down. And unfortunately at that level, really, your leg function is completely controlled by the nerves and spinal cord below that level.
So, you know, obviously, I have not seen his scans. I'm hearing about this news along with you. But obviously, an injury to the spinal cord of this severity is very, very concerning. They say he's permanently paralyzed as a result of the injury, which probably means the spinal cord had significant compression on it, if not tearing into it as a result of the injury.
What they do in situations like this, Don, is even though the spinal cord has been injured, they fuse the spine above and below the level of that injury to try and take off any pressure that may still be on the spinal cord, so he doesn't continue to have what's called an ascending paralysis. He has a certain level of paralysis. They don't want it to get any worse.
But exactly what you said, Don, 33 years old, prime of his life, it's a terrible injury.
LEMON: Yes. And we have been speaking to organizations who will help people who have been paralyzed. And when it happens as a child, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I mean, it's always terrible, but when it -- when it happens as a child, one tends to, according to this organization, get used to it more easily. But when it happens as an adult, it really affects people more, because they are used to, they have spent so much of their life being mobile.
GUPTA: Yes. And I think there's a certain amount of resiliency that's probably more attributable to someone earlier in life than later in life.
But having said that, Don, and having taken care of a lot of patients who have this type of injury, I see it more commonly after a car accident. That's one of the more common sort of mechanisms of injury.
You know, people can go on to, you know, do lots of different things, you know, even without the use of the legs, obviously, which is going to be a significant change for him. You know, that there's a significant rehab that he'll go through. And it's remarkable, the types of things that he's still going to be able to do despite that.
But for now, you know, even though the paralysis is sort of the key thing, his rehab is going to be important in the days and weeks to come, and after that, learning how to use a wheelchair, learning how to get around, learning how to take care of himself is going to be very important.
LEMON: Yes, and we certainly wish him the best.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we appreciate you joining us tonight. Thank you very much.
GUPTA: Anytime. Thanks, Don.
LEMON: And now, we should also say that later this hour we're going talk to Stephen Crowder. He knows what it is like to become paralyzed from the waist down. It happened to him 14 years ago when he was 38 years old, and you'll want to hear what he has to say about his recovery and what this member of the Dallas Cowboys can possibly expect.
We should also tell you that team owner Jerry Jones also offered the team's best wishes to the other two members of the Cowboys who were seriously injured yesterday. Special teams coach Joe Decamp -- DeCamillis, I should say, fractured one of his cervical vertebrae, but he also has no paralysis. No paralysis. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning.
And assistant trainer Greg Gaither suffered fractures in his right leg. He had surgery last night and he is expected to be released this week.
We work very hard to bring you all of this dramatic video. Last night, it unfolded as we were on the air. Immediately after our show, we put it up on our blog so you can see it again and post your comments. See all of it in full in its entirety. We have more fresh content up on our blog tonight which we will -- we're going to show you a little bit later on. And to access it, you go to CNN.com/newsroom and click on Don Lemon.
Well, the storm that caused the collapse is part of a bigger severe weather system that we have been following all weekend. Let's bring in our Karen Maginnis now, our meteorologist. She is in the CNN severe weather center.
Karen, the same storm that rolled through Dallas also rolled through Georgia, and it continues to move east tonight.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's all part of the same weather system. And we start to see this redevelopment of storms as well. Things have quieted down considerably since this afternoon.
Now I want to show you Google Earth and where some of those tornado reports were indicated. Mostly in central and northern Alabama, although we have tornado warnings all across central Alabama, extending in towards Atlanta, Georgia. The first one we had was in McCalla and that's in Alabama to the southwest of Birmingham. We don't have any reports of injury or damage, but they said that it was a fairly large tornado. Also some damage reported in Talladega County.
But look up here towards Crossville, Tennessee. They are reporting injuries there and quite a bit of property damage from that tornado that occurred earlier in the day.
But I want to show you what's happening on our radar as we look across the southeast. We're starting to see most of that moisture making its way further to the north into Tennessee, Kentucky, also into Virginia, as well as into West Virginia and North Carolina.
Some of the strongest storms indicated across that region now have really weakened considerably. But I want to show you one other place that we're watching. Down here in Louisiana, some pretty good storms developing across this region right around that Natchitoches, also Shreveport area and Baton Rouge starting to pick up some activity again. So, we could see some redevelopment overnight.
But, Don, I don't think it's going to have -- is going to be as widespread as we've seen the last several days. It has been incredible, the number of tornado, lightning, hail reports that we've seen, just dozens and dozens and dozen of them.
LEMON: And as being said, that it was a microburst that caused that stadium to collapse.
MAGINNIS: And they're saying that close to the ground the winds could have been in excess of 70 miles an hour.
LEMON: Boy.
MAGINNIS: That's a very strong winds coming out of the bottom of a thunderstorm. But it was not a tornado, even though in our minds we were thinking that's possibly what it was. But it was a microburst officially.
LEMON: Karen Maginnis, thank you very much.
There was a Condoleezza Rice sighting this evening. She was asked, was there anything she would have changed during her years in the White House. And you have to hear her answer. It is coming up.
And speaking of change, the Grand Old Party is trying to make one. They want to be the grand new party.
And meet the legend -- Tony Dungy. You know about his incredible Super Bowl victory. Well, tonight, his struggles and turmoil long before the historic win.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Plenty of developing stories from the world of politics tonight. We start with former presidential candidate John Edwards. He is acknowledging that federal investigators are looking into how he handled his campaign money. His political action committee has been in the spotlight ever since it was revealed that it paid $100,000 to a video production firm owned by Edwards' mistress. In a statement, Edwards says he is confident none of his campaign funds were used improperly.
High-ranking Republicans are looking for an edge on the issues and in their dealings with President Obama. A weekend event in Virginia marks the first of several planned road shows by GOP officials eager to boost the party's image. House Whip Eric Cantor and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney told CNN's John King that the party will be fine, but it needs to reconnect with voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our party is a big tent party. We have folks with different perspectives. We've always been that way. We've always had different coalitions within the Republican Party. We'll continue to have that.
You know, this last election, we didn't win but we didn't lose by an enormous amount. And we just need to make sure that we communicate our message effectively and draw those folks who watch with interest back to voting for us.
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MINORITY WHIP: And it's not that the Republicans need to change to become like Democrats. We know the principles upon which our party is founded. They are the principles of free market, of the rights of the individuals, of the faith and individuals with faith in God, the ability for people to stand up on their own and reach for that opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke today to students at the Jewish Day School in Washington. They asked her what she would have done differently. Check out what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: If I could change one thing that I did as secretary of state, what would it be? Well, I think I'm going to have to probably let history tell me what it should have been, because history is funny. It takes a long time to understand the impact of what you've done.
But if I had to say right now what would I have done differently, or what -- let me put it this way, what do I wish I could have done that we didn't get done. I wish we could have gotten peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. I wish we could have gotten that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: After leaving the government, Rice returned to Stanford University, where she teaches political science.
Laura Bush is back in the spotlight tonight in Washington. The event honored high school and middle school students from across the country who have distinguished themselves through volunteer work. The former first lady said volunteerism is a legacy of her husband's 2002 State of the Union address, which he urged community service. The 102 honorees at tonight's event were awarded $1,000 each. Mrs. Bush told the students, quote, "A life of service is a life of significance."
The GOP is out in force, the Supreme Court justice on the way out and Newt Gingrich always outspoken. A lot to talk about in politics tonight.
And here are the people who will be talking about it. Lynn Sweet and Mark Preston. As you know, they are part of our folks here we have every weekend, our regulars, and part of the chat on Twitter and Facebook as well.
Won't you join us?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Lots of activity in the ranks of the Republican Party this weekend. Former Republican governors Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney -- well, they launched a series of town hall meetings to rebuild the party. And former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks out in Washington.
And here to discuss all of that, Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times," and our very own Mark Preston, CNN's political editor.
Lynn, what is your other title? You write for a new blog now, right?
LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": With PoliticsDaily.com. Yes.
LEMON: OK. I wanted to get that in.
(CROSSTALK)
SWEET: PoliticsDaily.com.
LEMON: Yes. And I want to say Mark Preston wrote a very interesting article this week on CNN.com talking about Justice Souter. We will get to that in a moment.
Everyone is talking here about the rebranding of the GOP and what the GOP needs to do. Jeb Bush says that it has to be done and Newt Gingrich today, Mark, and I want to get you to talk about it and play it first, speaking at APEC, also had some words as well. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Recognizing that the leading thunder of Sunni extremism on the planet is Saudi Arabia and that rather than bow to the king we need a national energy policy to liberate the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He's talking there about the new administration, but in one thing that he is speaking out as well with the Republican Party, saying that the Republican Party needs to reach out, but also in that, making some controversy here by criticizing the administration. Is this a good start to rebrand the party by starting with criticism?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, what's happening right now, Don, is that you have all these voices who are trying to be the ones that come up with the ideas, with the strategy, with the plan that can really take the Republican Party out of the sphere that they're and really hope, you know, re-birth it and take it back out of the ashes, so to speak, and back into the majority and taking back the White House.
We're seeing that with Newt Gingrich. We're seeing that this past weekend with Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and Eric Cantor. We're also seeing this with republican strategists who have also started another group, Don, where they're going to try to come up with some ideas.
So, there's a lot of space for Republicans to try to find new ideas. But here's the thing. They can't be the party of no. They realize it. They have to come up with ideas. And that's why we're hearing them talk about it.
And, Lynn, you said -- we talked about it, and Mark mentioned it as well. You saw Eric Cantor out there. You saw Jeb Bush. You saw Mitt Romney. Where was -- where was the party chair in all of this? The person who became party chair to add diversity to the party?
SWEET: Well, Don, you have a very good point. You're talking about Michael Steele, the new Republican National Committee chairman. And -- well, this effort, this third way effort, is being done outside of the party. This could easily, if they had wanted to, have been incorporated as part of the party effort.
The intraparty and interparty issues here aren't as big as I think the bigger issue for Republicans which is, will the old Reaganesque big tent be opened up again? And I think part of this is that the language they're using, and I don't want to seem like I'm totally channeling Frank Luntz here, but he often has points.
You know, they're talking about tax cuts and big government. I think people want to speak in terms of job gain, house price stabilization, foreclosure end. So I think there's just a whole other vocabulary of talking about what the problems are, rather than -- not in this abstract.
The situation of this economic crisis is so severe that I think people are honed in a little more on the economic specifics rather than some over-arching philosophy at this point.
LEMON: Lynn, you're right on. Because Ron Paul, I spoke with Ron Paul last night and he's saying the same thing, that the party needs to go back to its roots, so to speak, and still do some changing. Take a listen and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: They want to say, well, how can we act more like Democrats to steal the thunder from the Democrats. And my whole approach has been that Republicans are to live up to what they profess to believe in. They believe in limited government and individual liberties. That means they ought to be looking at personal liberties. They ought to be looking at foreign policy and look at how we ran our foreign policy years ago, where we were non- interventionists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. Mark, I'm going to give you the last word because we're up against a break here and we have some big delays with Lynn who is in a different city tonight.
But Ron Paul is doing the same thing. So, you know, everyone is saying that the GOP has no leader now. To me, just from watching, you know, someone who is just paying attention to the media, it appears to be Eric Cantor to me. Do you disagree with that?
PRESTON: You know, he certainly one of the people who have stepped in and, you know, have tried to -- try to take the GOP in the right direction, so to speak. But there really is no leader and there will be no leader, Don. There'll be no dominant leader until the Republican Party is able to nominate somebody in 2012 for the presidential race. Otherwise, it's just going to be a bunch of people competing against one another in trying to push their views forward.
LEMON: All right. Thank you both very much for joining us.
And Martha -- I'm sorry, Lynn, thank you so much for joining us. She's joining us by broadband tonight. She's not in Washington.
SWEET: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: So, I appreciate it. So listen, if you want to learn more about all of this rebranding of the GOP and also about the resigning or the resignation or retirement of David Souter, go to CNNpolitics.com. There's a very interesting article on there by Mark Preston.
Have a good rest of the weekend to both of you.
We're hearing a lot from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tonight. The former secretary of state, I should say, Condoleezza Rice, is speaking out on a big bone of contention between the old and new administration to -- what's going to happen here -- so, and the future. We'll break down the comments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We have some new numbers tonight to tell you about in the global outbreak of H1N1 flu. The CDC announcing an additional 66 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the U.S., bringing the total to 226 cases in 30 states. They include one death.
Well, tonight, Mexican health officials confirm 568 swine flu cases and 22 deaths in that country, the apparent source of the outbreak. There are now more than 900 cases of the virus worldwide in 18 countries.
Health officials say the increase doesn't necessarily reflect all cases, and said they're catching up on testing previously collected samples.
And in California, visiting hours at prisons across the state have been suspended. Officials say an inmate has a probable case of H1N1 flu virus, and they have halted visits and other non-essential activities as precaution.
Here's what you guys are saying about the stories we're putting on the air.
DOWNTOWNBEDROCK says, "If the Republicans stay on the same track, they will lose most of their seats in 2010."
Ctguy2675, "Condi Rice did not achieve Middle East because diplomacy was not a priority for the Bush administration."
Jshaw86 says, "Don, could you ask Dr. Gupta if that spinal injury can be fixed with stem cells."
I sent him an e-mail already about that.
Ken2009Ozarks says, "Great blog. I always keep CNN on some of the time during the day. I like the news. Not horseplay."
As always, we like your comments. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com. Log on and we'll get your responses on the air.
Well, the news of the impending retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter broke last week. It sparked a new sport in Washington. Can you name the next to wear the coveted black robe? And here are the players tonight -- Warren and Chris. That's all I'm going to say.
Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Now it's time to talk about the drive-time buzz this weekend. Conservative commentator Chris Plante joins us. He's in Chicago. And attorney and syndicated radio host Warren Ballentine -- Raleigh, North Carolina, tonight. Thank you very much. Let's start with discussing David Souter. The talk here, Warren, is that it's going to be a woman. And some are hoping that it might be even an African-American, maybe an African-American woman, and then everybody would be happy.
WARREN BALLENTINE, HOST, "THE WARREN BALLENTINE SHOW": Well, Don, I'm going to tell you what. I mean, if we can predict this, you know, it's like playing the lottery. You know, I don't think you can make a prediction here. There's a lot of qualified individuals both men and women.
I think if you look at the makeup of the Supreme Court now, you would want to put a woman in there, preferably African-American woman. Maybe the judge out of Georgia. I can't think of her name right now, but she's on the appellate court down there in Georgia. She has a fantastic track record. With Arlen Specter coming over, you know, President Obama probably may have a filibuster-proof nominee when he gets to nominate whoever he choose to be.
LEMON: Well, you're talking about Leah Ward Spears, who's...
BALLENTINE: Yes, yes.
LEMON: Sears, I should say.
BALLENTINE: Leah Sears.
LEMON: Sears, I should say, Sears, who's one of six of the people who they believe are the front-runners for all of this.
How concerned are conservatives about this, Chris, about someone who they see as left-leaning and liberal being placed on the Court?
CHRIS PLANTE, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, Barack Obama is the president of the United States. So, you're pretty much guaranteed to have somebody liberal and left-leaning. I don't think anybody has a problem with that. Those are the consequences of the election.
The way that you described it, Don, coming in, there will be no men considered for the job. There will be no Caucasians considered for the job. So, it's all about race, class and gender.
LEMON: That's not...
(CROSSTALK)
PLANTE: We're excluding -- look, this is all the talk. You know it is.
BALLENTINE: Come on, Chris.
PLANTE: And we're looking for a woman. We're looking for a minority. There's Sonia Sotomayor, who is an apparent front-runner. And if we're excluding all men, and we're excluding all Caucasians and we're looking at it by race and by gender, then, you know, then that's what we're going to get. If that's the game we're going to play. You know, if the...
(CROSSTALK)
BALLENTINE: Chris, you know, it's amazing. It's amazing...
(CROSSTALK)
PLANTE: ... Republicans were saying, well, we're certainly not going to choose any women and we're only going to choose white people, we're not going to choose any minorities, that would be an outrage.
BALLENTINE: Well, that's exactly what George Bush did. That's exactly what George Bush did.
What's amazing to me -- what's amazing to me is this. When you look at the makeup of the Supreme Court, what people are saying is that we need to put a woman on there for some balance. And it doesn't have to be an African-American woman. It just needs to have a woman on there for balance. It's not about race.
(CROSSTALK)
BALLENTINE: And it should be about gender because the Supreme Court, as an attorney I can tell you this, Chris, the Supreme Court should make up all of us, not just a group of white men or black men that's more conservative than white men.
LEMON: Hang on, Warren. Hang on, Warren.
PLANTE: I'm not saying it should be -- Warren, I'm not saying it should be made up of all white men. I'm saying that we are looking for people to fill the slots on the Supreme Court. You should look at them as jurists not based on their race or their gender.
LEMON: Chris.
PLANTE: I thought that's what we aspired...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Justice Ginsburg says the same thing. Justice Ginsburg said the same thing about not having more women on the court.
(CROSSTALK)
PLANTE: Well, that's -- I mean, it shouldn't be about race and it shouldn't be about gender. You should look for the most qualified person. Secondly, the African-American on the court, Clarence Thomas, was appointed by a Republican. Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed by a Republican. If I remember it correctly, it was the left and liberals that ripped Clarence Thomas limb from limb because he wasn't the right kind of African-American.
LEMON: I think that...
PLANTE: Am I right? LEMON: They said that...
BALLENTINE: They were right to do that.
LEMON: Hang on. Let me jump in here. I think that the concern was -- is that Clarence Thomas was more conservative than most African-Americans, and they're saying that most African-Americans don't feel represented by someone like Clarence Thomas.
But Deval Patrick is also a man. He's a man. He happens to be African-American. There are Caucasian women who are listed -- who are on this list.
So, no one knows exactly. And if you look at it, it's a very diverse group of people, except, yes, there aren't any white men. But how many white men are already on the court? That's the question.
PLANTE: Well, and we want -- as I understand it, one of the priorities is someone that brings empathy and real world experience, as though judges and jurists don't experience the real world as the rest of us do. You know, for looking for somebody with empathy, maybe Dr. Phil would be available.
LEMON: OK. Stop. Hey, let's -- we're going to have to stop it here because this could go on. This is a very good conversation you guys are having about this, and I appreciate that you being so excited, especially you, Chris.
Let's talk about torture. Condoleezza Rice out speaking today and she brought up torture. Someone asked her about it, and she answered. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: But he was also very clear that we would do nothing, nothing, that was against the law or against our obligations internationally. And so, the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country. And I hope people understand that it was a struggle. It was a difficult time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Condoleezza Rice speaking today. Guys, I really have just very short time here.
Chris, I'll give you 10 seconds and, Warren, the same thing. Is she still standing behind the president when a lot of people are saying, hey, some people of this administration should be prosecuted.
PLANTE: Should I go first?
LEMON: Yes. I was talking to you, Chris.
PLANTE: President Obama ordered three men, Somali pirates, to be shot in the head in order to protect one life a couple of weeks ago, and he's a hero for it. The three guys that had Perrier squirted up their nose are still alive and well, enjoying culturally sensitive meals three times a day, and thousands of lives were saved.
LEMON: Warren?
PLANTE: Democrats were briefed on this...
(CROSSTALK)
BALLENTINE: If our American soldiers would have been treated like this, we'd have been crying bloody murder. Look, it's torture. They should be prosecuted and end of subject. Next subject -- the Republican...
PLANTE: Our soldiers are decapitated -- our soldiers are decapitated and mutilated.
LEMON: Chris, thank you very much.
Warren, thank you.
I'm not sure if I get the analogy of waterboarding and torture with the American hero who was saved...
BALLENTINE: Exactly.
LEMON: ... by, you know, our armed forces. But we appreciate you guys.
(CROSSTALK)
PLANTE: Three guys, three guys. Three are dead and three are living.
(CROSSTALK)
BALLENTINE: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Thank you very much. Have a great weekend.
And for the most unbelievable tragedy to overwhelming triumph, former NFL coach Tony Dungy has been through it all. He's tonight's "African-American First."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Former NFL head coach Tony Dungy made history when he led his team to a Super Bowl victory. He achieved wealth and fame on the football field, but he says his true mission in life is no game.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): Just talking to Tony Dungy...
(on camera): Did you ever think that you'd reach this level of success and fame and all of this opportunity?
TONY DUNGY, FORMER NFL COACH: No.
LEMON: ... is a walk down memory lane.
DUNGY: I remember when about 30 seconds left on the clock --
LEMON (voice-over): Super Bowl XLI, February 4, 2007.
DUNGY: Just thinking about all the people that have gone into my life.
LEMON: Dungy's the Indianapolis coach against his good friend, Lovie Smith, Chicago Bears.
DUNGY: Thirty seconds, all these names were kind of racing through my head.
LEMON (on camera): What did you think about? Was it bittersweet? Did you think about James?
DUNGY: I did, and how much he would have enjoyed being there. So, I thought about that.
LEMON (voice-over): James was Tony and his wife Lauren's eldest son who, at just 18 years old, had taken his life outside Tampa in December of 2005, devastating the family.
(on camera): So, you know, the whole world was watching. And I have to ask you this question and it kind of, you know, it's hard to ask. They were wondering what was going through your mind after just losing your son -- how you would -- how you could handle that sort of pressure at that time.
DUNGY: I think Christian faith just allowed me to look forward. And that's what I always try to do. And no matter what the situation and what disappointment should come off of, you just feel like that's the Lord making you stronger.
LEMON (voice-over): Faith and family, two things that have guided Dungy throughout his life. So as he stood on that field in Miami Gardens, Florida, the state where we could make history, the state where his son took his own life, faith and family would not elude him.
DUNGY: Starting with my mom and dad and where I grew up, all the way through my family and coaches that I've had.
LEMON: Dungy was the second of four children of Wilbur, a college physiology professor, and Cleomae, a high school English teacher in Jackson, Michigan.
(on camera): Having two people, two parents in the home...
DUNGY: Makes the biggest difference in the world. And as I look at our country right now, that's the thing that makes me the most nervous. The things that I talk about with my dad, the role model that he was for me, the advice that he gave me until I was 48 years old, I just can't even imagine not having that.
LEMON (voice-over): Both dad and mom made education a priority, and Tony excelled. The high school basketball guard and football quarterback attended the University of Minnesota on a scholarship, was drafted in 1977 by the Steelers, then played for the 49ers and the Giants before becoming an assistant coach in 1980 for his alma mater, Minnesota.
(on camera): As you're coaching, did you have a desire to one day be a head coach?
DUNGY: You know, when I first started, there were no African- American head coaches. So it wasn't -- it was almost wasn't even a goal.
LEMON: Because there was no one there like you. So you didn't think you could achieve it?
DUNGY: The concept of being the head coach when I was 25 years old, although I knew it wasn't impossible, it just wasn't something that seemed realistic.
LEMON: You think race was a component?
DUNGY: I think it was, because I don't think owners understood African-American coaches at that time, or players, maybe, as well as they do now.
LEMON (voice-over): After toiling through the coaching ranks of college and then the NFL for years, finally in 1996, a break with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
(on camera): So you're applying for the interview, right? You come here to Tampa. You open the paper and it says what?
DUNGY: It says that Tony Dungy is being interviewed, but it's just a courtesy interview, because Steve Spurrier is going to get the job.
LEMON: Were you kind of floored when you got?
DUNGY: I was. Because it had been so -- it had been so many years, and so many that I thought I had a chance at, and this one I really didn't think I had a chance.
LEMON (voice-over): The pressure was on with the team that had struggled for decades.
DUNGY: We lost our first five. And then we won one. Then we lost three more.
LEMON: But when Dungy began hiring coaches like Lovie Smith, the team began to prosper eventually making four playoff appearances once even winning their division. Accomplishing all of it with a quiet coaching manner.
(on camera): You never yelled.
DUNGY: I've yelled a few times.
LEMON: You haven't thrown any clipboards.
DUNGY: I have not thrown clipboards.
LEMON (voice-over): In 2002, Indianapolis came calling. Initially, the cold struggled under Dungy, but by 2006 got it together and took him to Super Bowl XLI. Only problem, he was up against long- time friend Lovie Smith.
DUNGY: You knew that he was going to be disappointing to beat the other guy, however it turned out.
LEMON: So with the clock ticking, who would it be? Lovie Smith or Tony Dungy? Faith and family, his mind racing.
DUNGY: I'm just saying, you know, I'm really thankful that I had all of these people to help me get here.
LEMON: In the same spirit of that year's Super Bowl motto, "One Game, One Dream." There would only be one winner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2007 world champions.
DUNGY: I had to kind of hold that emotion in, after I shook hand and then say, hey, you know what? We can celebrate now.
LEMON: The man who in just a few years had lost his mother, father and sons, had made history.
Tony Dungy, a Super Bowl hero, a role model and an African- American first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: "Up From the Past," watch it right here on CNN every Sunday night at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Next week, my conversation with Tyson Beckford.
Ladies, you'll love it. He's the first African-American male supermodel.
A heartbreaking injury after a violent storm. A Dallas Cowboys scout paralyzed in yesterday's practice arena collapsed. Plus, what it's like to live with paralysis. We'll put a personal face on this condition for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We have a quick update for you now on the injuries in that terrible storm that wrecked the Dallas Cowboys training facility. We have learned tonight sadly that the team's assistant coach, assistant scout, Rich Behm, is permanently paralyzed.
He fractured his spine in yesterday's accident. Two other staffers were seriously injured in this as well. They are expected to recover. The terrible, the video here just shows what happened at the time that that storm came through. We have learned now from the national weather service center, it was indeed a microburst that caused this. Also causing 12 people to be injured when this indoor practice facility collapsed in that fierce afternoon thunderstorm.
We've been talking about the young man now who is paralyzed. His name is Rich Behm, just 33 years old, and he is now facing life without the use of his legs.
Stephen Crowder knows what this is like. He was paralyzed 14 years ago when he was 38 years old, and he created the Web site. It's called survivingparalysis.com, just so he could help other people who are suffering, paralyzing injuries, and he joins me now by phone from San Diego.
We appreciate you joining us tonight. Thank you so much, sir.
STEPHEN CROWDER, SURVIVINGPARALYSIS.COM (via telephone): It's my pleasure, Don. Anything I can do to help.
LEMON: OK. You've got your injury. You dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool and ended up with paralysis.
Talk to us about what Rich Behm may be facing, the road ahead for him.
CROWDER: Right away, Rich, I know your head was swimming. What about this? What about that? Somehow things come together. My big thing was, who am I going to be able to talk to to find out what I need to do next. And how I, what I need to handle to survive this accident. Because -- it was so weird, and -- I didn't know anybody that been through it.
I recognized right away that just because one life ended, it didn't mean another couldn't begin. I've always loved writing and announcing baseball and doing a number of other things so I set my sites on accomplishing all those things, and on learning to give up the things I lost.
LEMON: And Steve, right in the beginning, though, you told me, you shared this with me, you said you thought your life was over and it took a while for you to realize that it wasn't, and it was hard work.
CROWDER: Don, well, no - I mean, you're reminded of it every minute. No. Right away, I just started thinking, who can I answer questions who survive this? What am I going to do with my life next? Because I knew. I mean, you're paralyzed. All bets are off. It's over. I mean, you know?
LEMON: Do you think it's harder for someone who was -- we're close to the same age. You were 38. He is 33. I spoke to several people tonight who are paraplegics, and they said -- one of them was a child, and he believes, says it was tough for him, because he'd see others walking around. And he wanted to walk. But even he believed that it is harder on people when it happens at an older age.
CROWDER: I don't think there's any way to gauge that. I think if you learn of it at a younger age, if it happens at a younger age, you can go out there and develop yourself towards a career more suited for somebody in a wheelchair.
So, I don't necessarily agree with the child. I think having established myself in an area that I could no longer work in is more difficult than doing it at a young age, but -- that's -- it's sad for everyone. And the important thing is for everyone to recognize there's life after spinal cord injury.
LEMON: OK.
CROWDER: And that's why -- I mean, that's what kept me going. That I knew I had skills and desires that in an able-bodied guy never had time to pursue. Not enough hours in the day.
LEMON: Stephen Crowder, we appreciate it. Thank you very much. Best of luck to you. And we want to tell people again if we can get the Web site, it's called survivingparalysis.com. Survivingparalysis.com.
If you have any questions about it, if you want to learn more about these injury, spinal cord injuries, you can go to that Web site.
That's what Stephen Crowder did after he was injured. We appreciate all of his work and him joining us tonight.
Your feedback is ahead, plus this.
Ever wonder what it takes to put on a show like this one?
Well, check it out. It is our latest blog entry. It takes you behind the scenes as we create what you see on your television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Time for your feedback.
Barbdoer (ph) says, "Why just think of the young people that the GOP lost? They have lost the older generation, too."
DOWNTOWNBEDROCK says, "What have we been looking for on the court for the past 400 years?" Talking about the Supreme Court.
Buzzardskorner says, "The GOP will never change until they set aside all prejudices about everything."
Here's what Wlperie says. "Ron Paul, the only Republican I currently trust."
Tell us what's on your mind tonight. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com. Seriously, we like to get your comments on. We really love them. Our radio host got a lot of comments, too. If we have some time, we may get them on.
OK. You can probably see that I am not sitting at the anchor desk right now. I'm at a location in the studio. We call this location Club Don. We have a bunch of locations. There's the Backyard. There's Brooklyn Bridge. There's -- what's the other one, Roger? Left Field, Times Square, Studio 54. And I -- they'll just say go there, and I know where it is.
But this is what it takes to set up Club Don. Director Roger Strauss put up a camcorder yesterday while it was being built. He built the set and then he condensed it on the video down to one minute. This whole thing is now posted on our new show blog. Go to CNN.com/newsroom and all you have to do is click on Don and you can see our blog post.
We put one up there, too, about swine flu. Got a lot of responses.
OK. Meantime, the trouble for Chrysler, the corporation. They go far beyond financial concerns. Their cars are part of American history.
Born to be wild. That's me in a nostalgic classic car show yesterday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, in a Chrysler, no less.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Well, all Chrysler plants will be idle starting tomorrow as the automaker begins bankruptcy proceedings. Workers going home last week won't be back to work until the automaker emerges from bankruptcy. Well, most analysts expect that process to take at least two months. Chrysler says five of its plants will not reopen at all.
Meantime, we're learning that Chrysler's prospective new owner, Italian carmaker Fiat, well, it's talking to General Motors as well.
Chrysler muscle cars once ruled the streets of America. A lot of people are very nostalgic for those glory days. Well, this weekend, die-hard fans brought their vintage babies to the Atlanta Motor Speedway and it was horse-power heaven.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): Vehicles from yesterday and today pull into the infield at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. For these people, the cars are much more than transportation.
PAUL EMIRO, '69 PLYMOUTH CONVERTIBLE: It's kind of what you grow up with. These are the cars I had in high school. I think we all buy those cars of our youth, right?
LEMON (on camera): How does it feel to you in here, though? MIKE HORTON, '69 DODGE DART: It hurts. You know, you're seeing icons just going down. And there's nothing that really the American public can do about it.
LEMON (voice-over): A deal with Fiat may have saved the company from immediate liquidation, but what about the future?
MATT MORGAN, '72 DODGE CHARGER: The way I look at it is, they emerged from the bankruptcy once before. I hope they can do it again.
LEMON (on camera): For nearly a century, Chrysler has been a part of the American fabric with die-hards like these guys really keeping the company afloat. The good news is that they are optimistic.
ED FAATH, '68 DODGE DART: Chrysler will have to just bite the bullet, be competitive and should be a stronger company.
LONNIE JOHNSON, CHRYSLER ENTHUSIAST: I feel wholehearted they're going to come back strong. Sometimes you have to step back two or three steps and come back as a slimmer, trimmer type of company.
LEMON (voice-over): No one knows if the future Chrysler will still turn out products like Darren Tedder's earth-shaking 1971 Hemi Barracuda.
(on camera): Wow.
(voice-over): Analysts say even modern muscle cars guzzle too much gas.
(on camera): This sort of thing epitomizes the American car industry, the muscle car...
DARREN TEDDER, '71 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA: Absolutely.
LEMON: ...when it was at its heyday. And now you think that's over?
TEDDER: You know, I think it can come back. I mean, I think, you know, with a new administration and, you know, people having some more confidence in the market, I think it could very easily come back.
JOHNSON: Like horse power. Your full 40s, the whole big block guy.
LEMON: But even in new cars, when they're talking about fuel efficiency?
JOHNSON: We still want something to rock 'n' roll, you know. We want to save fuel in another car. You got another car. You save fuel in and another car, you want get in and rock 'n' roll in. So, everybody wants some power.
TEDDER: I'd like to see my sons when they're my age with a modern Chrysler done like this in the future. LEMON (voice-over): A future that still remains uncertain for Chrysler and those who love it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Wow, those are some really cool cars. Hey, let's read some of your feedback right now.
Here's what Megandresa (ph) says, "I love that purple car. That's my favorite color. Wow. You're so lucky. A guy to drive fast." Oh, well, awesome.
Mead (ph) says, "Thanks, Don, for doing something other than swine flu. Media ad nauseam reporting. It's just too much. People do have common sense."
And then tj14vialos says, "I saw your interview with Tony Dungy. Very classy man. We need more like him."
Thank you for your feedback. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com. We appreciate it.
I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us. "TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE," right now.
