When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered an injury-induced cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, it shocked the nation — and spurred the community where he attended high school into prayerful action.
Hamlin attended and played football at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, graduating in 2016.
“Our prayers are with Damar and his family during this difficult time,” said Principal and Lasallian Brother Michael Andrejko in a Jan. 3 statement. Andrejko previously taught and was principal at St. John’s College High School in Washington. “May the Lord be with him and hold him in the palm of his hand.”
“He is a great athlete and twice as great a person,” said Terry Totten, retired head football coach at Central Catholic. “He is an essential part of the community at Central Catholic.”
The Jan. 3 statement lauded Hamlin as a “Christian gentleman who is a man for others,” noted his charitable foundation’s work for the community and that he “regularly returns to Central to speak with participants of our football camps.”
Hamlin is one of four players in the NFL who were coached by Totten. No high school in Pennsylvania has more active NFL players than Central Catholic, according to school officials.
The school community continued to follow Hamlin’s progress, flooding the school’s Facebook page with hundreds of posts offering prayers of support. The school held a healing service in the auditorium Jan. 5 and continued cheering reports of Hamlin’s recovery.
“The most recent news about Damar Hamlin, ’16, is what we were praying for,” said Brother Andrejko in a Jan. 6 statement.
Hamlin was released from the hospital Jan. 11.
