When Mississippi State Head Football Coach Jackie Sherrill met with Life University
President Dr. Sid E. Williams in March to discuss the care of MSU athletes,
they realized a common bond as NCAA football players.
Both men had made their marks in Southeastern Conference history, playing for
legendary coaches, and they share a love for athletics and a commitment to the
pursuit of excellence.
Sherrill, a three-year letterman at the University of Alabama, played seven
different positions as a member of Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s
1964 and 1965 national championship teams.
Dr. Williams, whom Coach Bobby Dodd labeled “best player, pound for pound,
in America,” lettered in 1949 and was a starter on Georgia Tech’s
1950 and 1951 teams. He played defensive end on the 1951 squad, which captured
the Orange Bowl crown and a No. 1 ranking; its defense was ranked No. 4 in the
nation.
Their meeting with team chiropractor Dr. David Allen coincided with the Bulldogs’
workouts in spring practice, and it brought to the fore their concern for providing
optimal care for the players. Sherrill expressed his commitment to having Dr.
Allen, a 1995 Life University graduate, as part of the interdisciplinary health-care
team that keeps MSU’s athletes ready to compete each week in their fierce
gridiron battles.
“Our players have no qualms about chiropractic,” Sherrill stated.
“When we say, ‘You have an appointment with Dr. Allen,’ they
don’t miss their appointment. They have enough belief and confidence that
it does help them, or they wouldn’t be getting on (Dr. Allen’s adjusting)
table.”
Sherrill, while head coach at Texas A&M, began sending football players
to chiropractic practitioners for care.
“We were fortunate that we were able to use chiropractic services back
in the early 1980s,” he noted. “Is there a place for it? Definitely,
yes. We‘re very fortunate, because our medical staff and Dr. Allen work
very well together.
“The best thing that David does is to help the players realign themselves,
meaning that if you’ve got, for some reason, a short hip or whatever, you’re
going to run that way,” he added. “I don’t think we’ve had
any player that we have sent to David that wasn’t ready to play that week.
Our people do a great job of getting a player on the field. Years ago, when
Dr. Williams played, and when I played, you were lucky to get a water break.”
Dr. Williams, as founder and president of the world’s largest chiropractic
institution, has devoted time and resources to helping athletes reach their
full potential. He and his wife, Dr. Nell Williams, were noted upper cervical
chiropractic specialists in their 35 years of practice, and, concerned about
the MSU football players’ care, he inquired about the protocol used to
manage problems.
Sherrill explained that head trainer Paul Mock coordinates the care of the players
and that Dr. Allen, physician Dr. Robert Collins and orthopedic surgeon Dr.
Russell Linton attend every practice. He emphasized that Dr. Allen provides
care for the players during the week of preparation before games, pre-game in
the locker room and during games on the sidelines.
“Chiropractic is finding out more and more about how to manage sports injuries,”
said Dr. Williams. “Chiropractic can care for articulations in addition
to subluxations, which is its main forte in healing.”
Dr. Williams explained that chiropractic may be able to address more than 450
articulations in the human body, and that these articulations can become displaced
or deranged, preventing athletes from achieving peak performance.
He cited an incident which occurred before the 1951 football season at Georgia
Tech. He had consistently been running the 100-yard dash at a 10.1 time, but
suddenly he began experiencing a decline in his performance, seeing his times
slip to 10.2 and occasionally 10.3. Along with his coaches and trainer, he was
desperate to find the cause.
“I had lost my agility, and I had lost an inch or two on my leap,”
Dr. Williams recalled. “I went from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital,
even to the Mayo brothers in Minnesota, to find out what was wrong.”
Then, he found out about upper cervical chiropractic from a lifelong friend,
Dr. T.O. Humber, and shortly after beginning care, he started regaining his
athletic prowess.
“Within a week, I was again running the 100-yard dash at 10.1, and I could
actually outrun the Tech pickup truck in a 50-yard dash,” Dr. Williams
said. “It was unbelievable to my coaches and trainer.”
With this knowledge of upper cervical adjustments, he also found the solution
to the headaches he had experienced through high school “from 10 o’clock
to 6 o’clock, on the football field and during military exercises.”
He stated that, after the cause of the cervical condition was corrected, he
hadn’t suffered from a headache for more than 30 years.
Sherrill noted that two Bulldogs, an offensive lineman and a receiver, who had
been experiencing headaches may be candidates for adjustments. He added that
players are vulnerable to a wide variety of injuries, due to the increased severity
of the contact in college football. The inevitable, frequent collisions take
their toll.
“We‘re seeing more and more shoulder injuries today than we ever have,
because of the force and size of the kids,” Sherrill pointed out. “But
their flexibility saves them. The guys who are least to get hurt are the ones
who have more flexibility.”
Dr. Allen explained that proper evaluation can pinpoint problem areas.
“There are problems in the neck that can (cause nerve interference) and
definitely affect equilibrium, and you just remove the nerve interference and
it goes away,” he said. “In whiplash injuries, the head and neck goes
into a ‘flapping’ motion, and football players can experience whiplash-type
injuries every time they hit the field. What we want to do is to make sure that
the athletes have flexibility and stability.”
Dr. Williams and Dr. Allen toured the athletic facilities at Davis Wade Stadium,
where players and coaches prepare for each game in a plush dressing area lined
with mahogany lockers and equipped with TV monitors and screens to plan strategies.
“There are no finer college football facilities anywhere in the U.S.,”
noted Dr. Williams. “Coach Sherrill is at the peak of his performance with
his organizational skills, and everything is first class in the Mississippi
State program and moving like it should.”
After observing with Sherrill the Bulldogs’ spring workout, Dr. Williams
met with Dr. Allen and other medical staff members on the sidelines, where,
during games, chiropractic care is provided for MSU’s players.