Oct. 25--Life always seemed to smile on Mike Haynes, the handsome Hall of Fame cornerback who starred for the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders, where he won a Super Bowl in 1983.
Haynes was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, made the Pro Bowl nine of his 14 years in the league, and after football, first helped Callaway Golf clubs become a leading brand, and then became an NFL vice president, helping players with their careers after football.
But in the summer of 2008, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Haynes was the first to get a free test for prostate cancer, and that led to the eventual diagnosis of cancer.
And that's why Haynes, still fit at age 56, came to Buffalo on a rainy Saturday as he was awarded the Gilda Radner Courage Award from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Haynes was blind-sided by the diagnosis. He didn't even know what the prostate gland does, or what his chances of survival were.
"What is the prostate?" he asked in an interview before he addressed the audience in Shea's Performing Arts Center, who gathered for Roswell Park's 19th annual All Star Gala.
Then Haynes answered his own question.
"The prostate is the gland that makes the fluid that your sperm
travels in," he said. "Men do not know this. Did you know that? I would talk to guys who have prostate cancer in their family, and they do not know it."
"That's why I said, I have to go out and help with this," Haynes said.
Much like he once studied opposing quarterbacks and watched hundreds of hours of film of the wide receivers he would be facing, Haynes threw himself into learning everything he could about prostate cancer.
He brought his own team to the fight -- Team Haynes, a group of retired athletes and coaches he assembled and began a Web site on prostate cancer, knowyourstats.org.
"One of eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer," Haynes said. "But one out of six men are diagnosed with prostate cancer."
But even more disturbing to Haynes, who is African-American, is the much higher rate of prostate cancer among black men.
"With African-Americans, the rate is one in 2z men," he said. "How can it be so high, and I didn't know about it? So I started asking. Do you guys know about it? No, no, no."
"They're just not talking about it," he said. "I think that's terrible. The mortality rate is also higher for African-Americans. I think it's because they're so good about keeping a secret. We need to change that."
He had his cancerous prostate surgically removed this past March, and takes assurance from his doctor that he has a good prognosis for survival.
Haynes also said that it's time for men to speak frankly about prostate cancer surgery.
"You can still have an erection," he said. "You can still have an orgasm, except nothing comes out. Without a prostate, what am I missing? So for me, I wanted to get it out of my body."
For Haynes, the diagnosis of cancer changed his life. He resigned from the NFL -- he still works as a consultant -- and moved his family from Westport, Conn., back to Southern California, where he grew up.
"I think I appreciate things a little differently," Haynes said. "I appreciate the walks with my wife. I appreciate watching my son play football. My daughter's going through a tough time in her life. I appreciate being able to go through that with her.
"I'm winning in my battle," he said, "so I can be an example to my family and to others."
Haynes, who was the first-round draft choice of the New England Patriots in 1976, has fond memories of his yearly battles with a Bills team that included Joe Ferguson at quarterback, O. J. Simpson at running back and wide receiver Bobby Chandler.
Haynes joked that he has never once come to Buffalo and seen the sun shine. (He'll be gone before Sunday's expected sunny day). And like many of the times he was here before, Saturday was windy -- reminding him of a past game.
He recalled one of the worst experiences he had against the Bills here. Besides being the Patriots' top cornerback, Haynes also returned punts.
"The guy shanked a punt, and because he shanked it, I had to run up to it, and I didn't have a chance to catch it because the wind was blowing so hard," said Haynes, laughing at the memory.
"And then before I knew it, there were like six Buffalo Bills surrounding the ball, daring me to pick it up. And so it starts rolling, the ball rolled all the way down, like 45 yards, and they downed it at the one."
mbeebe@buffnews.com
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