AN EXTREME PASSION TO COMPETE

At the end of the 1985 season in a game against the Cowboys, Ronnie Lott, then in his glory days with the 49ers, mangled his left pinky in a brutal collision with running back Timmy Newsome. Bone fragments and parts of Lott's finger lay somewhere in the turf. Lott came out of the game briefly -- a game his team won to gain a wild-card berth in the NFC playoffs. He bore the agony of his dismembered member in the manner of all Top Guns and Terminators of sports. Enduring the pain was a religion -- or at least a line-item entry in the game's Iliad of make-believe war.


The next week, Lott had his fingers taped so he could play -- in a loss to the Giants. Over that winter, he remained in excruciating pain. He faced the next season with an awful choice: a complicated and delicate operation in which bone and skin grafting and the placement of pins in his hand might restore full use of his hand -- or, he could have the top of his finger amputated. Choice No. 1 meant missing playing time and risking reinjury. Choice No. 2 meant missing some finger but being ready -- like Arnold Schwarzenegger -- for more. Most football fans know how this came out. Lott chose to have the top of his finger chopped off and then went on to his third Pro Bowl season with the 49ers, leading the team to yet another playoff appearance.

(It should be noted that Lott won four Super Bowls and was selected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 2000)

From an article in The Sporting News (Oct 24, 1994) by David Falkner