The Charismatic Deacon Jones

            Deacon Jones was the most colorful and one of the most dangerous NFL players to ever take the field. To say he redefined the defensive end position was an understatement. He was a powerful man and a humorous entertainer. His death this week has ripped a hole in the fabric of the football world.

            When Deacon entered a room, the room was his. He was the most vocal member of the Fearsome Foursome. Merlin Olsen was a quiet, gentle man, Rosey Grier was a humble, peaceful man. Lamar Lundy was humble, peaceful and quiet. Deacon, who nicknamed himself after the Rams drafted him, was neither quiet nor humble.

            But he had the right to brag.

            When Tony Cordasco of Red Bull and I helped promote his Living Legends of Sport roast in May 1998, taped for broadcast on ESPN from the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, we had the honor of sitting in a suite with the Fearsome Foursome for hours. The room held just the six of us, and we watched them sign autograph after autograph meticulously and with pride. They truly loved one another and cared about each others physical health long after they retired.  We sat and listened to the four of them tell story after story. Olsen was the statesman, Rosey the reverent one and Lundy the personable one. Deacon was constant generator of passion and fire. His motor never stopped after he played. Even then he couldn't sit still for long and dodged in and out of the suite.

            Cordasco and I also hired Deacon to be the guest star at our 1996 Super Bowl Party at Vegas' famed Drink, And Eat Too club owned by the Morton's near the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. We picked him up at the airport for the Steelers-Cowboys game and he earned every penny we paid him with stories and antics for all who came. He also had the right side that day when Neil O'Donnel threw two big second-half interceptions that won Deacon a boatload of cash. His winning made the day more special, more vibrant. He was a winner in life and a winner of respect from his peers.

            Jones told outrageous stories, and if they were unembellished, they reflected his life in a way no biography could match. He didn't need a large audience; the breakfast table provided enough of one. Everywhere he went, Deacon was an imposing figure.

            The creation of the headslap was his idea and the NFL banned it due to its devastating impact upon an offensive lineman's head.

            One of his favorite tales was about the headslap. Some crazy fool asked Deacon to demonstrate it for him. Deacon told him how he got an offensive lineman to lean one way with his way and then come across with a forearm slap to the side of his head. When  Jones did that in a game, he would often break or crack an old helmet made in the 1960s. But the verbal description wasn't enough for this guy. He wanted Deacon to show him more. Deacon said "go get on a helmet and I'll show you what it felt like." The guy said he didn't have a helmet and he wanted the full impact. Deacon obliged him.

            Jones was the motivational and spiritual leader of the Rams' Fearsome Foursome from 1961-71. He also played for San Diego for two seasons before finishing his career with the Redskins in 1974. George Allen call him the best defensive end ever. No one argued with Allen. Jones was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and made the league's 75th anniversary all-time squad. He provided the entertainment for football fans during Miller Lite commercials after he left the game and inspired troops overseas. He also used his Deacon Jones Foundation to raise money for poor inner-city kids.

            Olsen died in March 2010 at age 69 and Lundy died in February 2007 at 71. Grier, who is 80, is the only surviving member of the Fearsome Foursome.

            The Rams' stats show Jones with 159.5 sacks for them and 173½ for his career -- all unofficial because the sack was not a recognized league stat back then. Jones also was one of the most durable players, missing just five games in 14 seasons.

            Now the NFL has created an award in his honor, going to the player with the most sacks each season. Well deserved.

            The outpouring of affection and respect after his death was moving. His impact and his stories live on.

 

Energy Healing Today

            Reiki Energy healing has gained tremendous credibility in the medical and holistic health worlds in the past 10 years. Healing with your hands and with your mind has created quite the buzz.

            Reiki energy healers are abundant worldwide. They were unknown 40 years ago in the United States and those who participated in this healing art in the 1980s were considered lawbreakers -- those who healed without a medical license -- and often jailed for using it.

            However, after years of research much of it provided by grants by the National Institute of Health and the United States Army, Reiki practitioners are now welcomed in hospitals and cancers centers across America and throughout the world.

            Even though Reiki has been given a Japanese name meaning "light energy," the healing art emanates from Tibet, India and the Himalayan region where its roots are traced back thousands of years. Reiki treatments can be given with hands-on treatments, above-the-body treatments, and through distance healing treatments using visualization and ancient symbols.

            Energy healing requires a specific band of frequency that is referred to as white light. This pure energy, which takes on characteristics of heat and vibration, accelerates the body's healing process. It's called Reiki across the globe but will soon take on the more generic term of energy healing. 

            This ancient art is now embraced by the Western medical world and is used in more than 150 hospitals in the U.S. This form of cell rejuvenation is dispensed in treatments by trained energy healers, who most often are trained in Reiki.

            Energy healing causes no harm. At the very least, it enables the body to relax. When we relax, the body heals. When we sleep, the body rejuvenates. Reiki pratitions dispensed energy waves of frequencies that range from 1 to 30 hz.

            Reiki workers are "attuned" to this energy when they are formally trained. This ancient healing art originated in Tibet and was introduced at a free clinic in Japan by Dr. Mikao Usui in the early 1900s. Although he was not a medical doctor, he trained medical doctors to use it before his death in the mid-1920s. Reiki began making its way west after World War II in Hawaii through Hawayo Takata, who was healed of cancer by Dr. Hijiro Hayashi in Japan in the late 1930s.

            The cost of classes then was far more than it is today. Prices for Reiki I, learning hands-on healing, range fro $70 to $150. Prices for Reiki II, distance healing and the use of visualization, are $150 to $250. Reiki Master classes start at $250.

            The use of Reiki is common among nurses, massage therapists, chiropractors and other holistic healers. Doctors have also seen the light and now embrace it. At Swedish-American Hospital in Rockford, Ill., all admitted patients are offered Reiki treatments for free. At cancer wellness centers, including Healing Pathways in Rockford and The Caring Place in Las Vegas, Nevada, also offer treatments for free. Insurance groups are now reimbursing some clients who are recommended treatments by doctors and psychiatrists.

            Even though the Midwest is one of the last regions that Reiki has become popular, it is available in numerous settings: college classrooms, health and wellness centers and through private instruction. Some of the more prestigious allopathic centers using Reiki include Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, the Baltimore Trauma Center,  Integrative Therapies Program for Children in New York, and many others.

            What can it help? There are six clinical trials under way that are funded by the U.S. government in the areas of stress, prostate cancer, fibromyalgia, AIDS and painful neuropathy (see www.clinicaltrials.gov and use "Reiki" as a keyword search). Reiki has had an effect on cancer and multiple sclerosis patients and is used as an integrative therapy to Eastern and Western modalities.

            As a proponent, advocate and a 27-year teacher, Reiki has been an integral part of my life. The results of its use have been what some consider miraculous. The key to learning this art is taking instruction from a longtime teacher who knows all the intricacies of its scientific roots as well as how it affects the body, mind and spirit.

            Where to find it? Reiki is offered in classes at wellness centers, community colleges in continuing education, massage centers and privately. There are also nonprofit groups that can recommend Reiki and that do research, including Reiki Energy International nonprofit group in Illinois and Equilibrium in Chicago.