Harrison Phillips had taken a new Minnesota Vikings teammate to a Timberwolves game at Target Center to watch the Timberwolves when a message from his fiancée, Shae Spady, changed everything.
Spady made Phillips aware that former Buffalo Bills teammate Damar Hamlin had collapsed during the first quarter of Monday night’s game against Cincinnati.
Phillips left the arena, and did what Phillips always does, try to find a way to help.
He said he was refreshing Twitter every second seeking updates and then began texting former Bills teammates for updates, trying to provide support.
Then, he wanted to help the people helping Hamlin. On Tuesday, through a Bills athletic trainer, Phillips reached a nurse at University of Cincinnati Medical Center and said he wanted to buy dinner for the Hamlin family, the Bills’ support staff and the doctors, nurses and staff of the intensive care unit.
The nurse gave him the names of nearby spots that delivered and he arranged for a sandwich shop to bring over food for about 50 people. He’s doing the same Wednesday night with a buffet from Chipotle.
"I just wanted to donate food for them so they don’t have to worry about any of that," Phillips told Minneapolis reporters Wednesday. "I found a sandwich shop and ordered food – chips, drinks and sandwiches, everything I could find, salads, whatever … I just wanted to try to do something.”
And then he wanted to do more.
Phillips is a big believer in “paying it forward.” Through his Playmakers foundation, Phillips is collecting donations for a future “pay-it-forward” event in Hamlin’s honor. Donations can be made at HarrisonPlaymakers.com/DamarHamlin.
"Just wanted to try to do something,” Phillips said. “The children I work with have bigger hearts than any of us, and they wanted to find ways to help out, too. I opened a branch of my foundation they could support. It’ll hopefully be a celebration of his life and his recovery in the months to come.”
Phillips noted that Hamlin’s locker was near his in the Bills’ locker room last season when Hamlin was a rookie. He noted that Hamlin had been among his teammates to volunteer at events for Phillips’ foundation.
Phillips, who spent four seasons with the Bills, signed as a free agent with the Vikings in the offseason.
Coincidentally, Hamlin had his best game of the season, with 10 tackles, in the Bills’ 33-30 overtime loss to the Vikings in Week 10.
“We are a brotherhood. It touches very, very hard for us," Phillips told reporters. "We compete like hell when we’re out there against each other, but that is a brother when I look across the line of scrimmage. I’m loving all the support and prayers. I believe in the power of prayer heavily, and I believe that’s helping move the needle."
Vikings outside linebacker Pat Jones II was a teammate of Hamlin’s at Pitt.
"I've never really seen nothing like that before. So initially, it really caught me off guard. I didn't really know what was going on," Jones told reporters. "I just kept saying in my mind, you know, 'Get up, get up, get up.'
"I just saw how the whole thing played out and that's when I just started praying for him and just thinking of his family and just keeping everybody in my prayers, just hoping that it wasn't anything like it was, and just that it would be better," Jones added. "I've just kept keeping him in my prayers, and his family, too."
