'Don't Kill Him!’ Cowboys’ DeMarcus Ware Reveals Life-Changing Scare at HOF

The Dallas Cowboys all-time sack leader, defensive end DeMarcus Ware, may not have been with us to display his Hall-of-Fame talents and good-natured spirit had it not been for three life-saving words.

Approximately 12 percent of the United States population lived in poverty in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Growing up in Auburn, Alabama, in the 1980s, former Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware was one of those below the poverty line, but Ware made it out and became one of the best sack artists in NFL history. Ware was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday and retold a story that's lived with him for his entire life and flipped the switch en route to a professional career.

"There's something in our lives that pushes us to make a real change," Ware said to the Canton, Ohio, crowd. "For me, that one single frightening moment was when I was in college. I was attending a parking lot party when I was visiting home. My uncle was in his car, and, without warning, was knocked across the head with a gun and a knife dropped to the ground and I picked it up. 

"And when I looked up, all I could see was the potential shooter's eyes and a gun barrel pressed against my head. All I heard was my family say, 'Don't kill him.' There was a eerie silence. After which I simply said, 'This isn't me,' and I dropped the knife. At the moment, I knew God gave me a second chance, and I had to do something with it."

And Ware did. He went on to have a 12-year NFL career — nine in Dallas and three with the Denver Broncos, where he won a Super Bowl — earning nine Pro Bowl nods, four First Team All-Pro selections, while leading the league twice in sacks and three times in tackles for loss.

Ware holds four of the top-six single-season sack totals in Cowboys history, including the franchise-record 20 in 2008.

Ware had one of the more heartfelt speeches of the nine inductees, talking about his mother's sacrifices working three jobs as a single parent, forgiving his father who was absent during his childhood and taking a moment to remember running backs Marion Barber and Ronnie Hillman and wide receiver Demariyus Thomas — all of whom have passed away since Ware's retirement in 2016.

Ware said that near-death experience in that parking lot shaped the rest of his career.

"That was my turning point," Ware said. "The memory of those parking lot lights and the sounds of those screams, 'Don't kill him,' became the fire that empowered me. You can't imagine how many years that night echoed in my head. When I trained I was motivated by the memories of those parking lot lights, and when I ran on to the field and the crowd cheered, those memories of those screams began to fade. Every sack I made helped to ease the memory of that frightful night and replaced it with positive energy."

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Follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419

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