Stacy endures horrible tragedy

It has been nearly a year and a half, yet the recovery process is still day-by-day.

On Nov. 19, 2007, former Alabama football star Siran Stacy and his family were involved in a tragic accident that claimed the lives of his wife and four of his daughters, leaving only himself and his youngest child Shelly alive. It was a horrifying story that gripped the Wiregrass area, the state of Alabama and many
other parts of the country. Stacy, a native of Geneva, was left to pick up the pieces of his life. He is succeeding, but in small steps.

“I’m just trying to get through each day with God’s help,” he said Thursday morning.

Stacy has used the incident to come to grips with his spiritual life, one that is flourishing. He has spoken to dozens of groups in schools, churches and other
organizations, sharing his testimony and the tale of what has transpired since the fateful wreck. His talks include a story about the ups and downs of his career
as a football player, one that saw him go from a household name in the Crimson Tide football family to a guy who seemingly had it all taken away from him.

“Before the 1990 season, I was a Heisman Trophy candidate and an All-SEC player,” he recalled. “Then in the first game of the season against Southern Miss,
I blew out my knee. They told me I’d never play football again. I laid in that hospital room with the stitches in my knee and wondered what would happen to me.“

He eventually came back, though the trademark razor-sharp cuts and darting running style were never quite the same. He did get drafted and spent time with
the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles before eventually getting a job in banking. He had turned the corner, happily married with a family full of love for each other. Then
it was all gone.

The outpouring of prayers and concern for his own health reached from Pennsylvania to Texas, where his former coach, Gene Stallings, got word of what had
happened.

“The next morning, he had taken a plane to Dothan and was at my bedside,” said Stacy, who spent 18 days in a hospital recovering from his own injuries from
the awful crash. “From the time everything happened, I have been overwhelmed at the support I have gotten.“

As one would expect, Alabama fans showered him with love and concern, but some of the inspiration came from unlikely sources. He was the Tide’s honorary captain for last year’s Iron Bowl, and before the game, a couple of things happened that took him aback.

“Tommy Tuberville walked up to me and told me he was praying for me,” said Stacy. “Then after I was introduced to the crowd, I had a guy who is very much in
the Alabama family tell me that the roar was the loudest he’d ever heard in that stadium. And it wasn’t just Alabama fans cheering, it was Auburn fans too.“

Yet the roar dies down each day. He is left with trying to put things back together again the best way he can, trying to help other people along the way.

“I had a young man come up to me in Phenix City after one of my speeches and tell me had been considering suicide,” he said. “He said I changed his mind.
But it wasn’t me. To God be the glory.“

And to the survivor of one of the most traumatic events a father and husband can be forced to endure, the prayers and best wishes of everyone, whether they
know Siran Stacy or not. He has earned them.