Replacement Linebacker Also Plays For Son’s Bragging Rights
Sometime tonight, Mike Humiston, a Charger replacement linebacker, will prop himself up in bed in his hotel room in Los Angeles, pick up the phone and call home.
He will ask for his 8-year-old son, Benjamin. He will ask his son about the party Benny has planned for Sunday. He will ask about the friends Benny invited. He will make certain his son has the TV tuned to the right channel.
Benny will want to make certain it will really be his father on television Sunday. He will encourage his father to hit the other guys hard. He will tell his father that it will be OK to move back home after this game, because he misses him. Mike Humiston will put down the phone. Then he will want to go out and beat the Los Angeles Raiders.
“I will think about my son before I go the field,” said Humiston. “And I will be very, very jacked up.”
Two years ago, Humiston’s son was diagnosed as having Duchenne’s Syndrome, the most severe type of muscular dystrophy. Within two years, he could be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of what is expected to be a short life.
That doesn’t give Mike Humiston, 28, much time. So, a month ago, he left his secure job as a Tehama County deputy sheriff in the northern California town of Red Bluff. Even though he had not played a down of professional football in two years, Humiston agreed to join the Chargers’ replacement team.
Many replacement players crossed the picket lines for the sake of their dreams. Humiston came only for the dreams of his son.
“I want to do some things for my son while he can still walk,” said the quiet Humiston. “That is 99.9% of the reason I am here.”
His son wants a motorized four-wheel bike so he can pedal around like normal children. His son wants to visit Disneyland one more time while he can still walk through it. His son wants to visit his grandparents in Washington state.
“There is a fourth thing, something my wife and I want,” said Humiston. “We want to be able to give him any kind of special treatment, anywhere, that will give us hope.”
For his four weeks here, Humiston figures he will gross $16,000 to 18,000. That’s nearly as much as he would make in one full year as deputy sheriff ($19,740).
“It is a tremendous financial lift,” said Humiston. “It will make some of these dreams come true.”
Fittingly, he is one replacement player who didn’t care about the strike.
“It was a joke. The players don’t know how lucky they are,” he said.
He didn’t care about crossing a picket line. “What could they do to me that hasn’t already been done? When you’re playing for your family, nobody can hurt you.”
The 45 striking Chargers will return to camp Monday, joining the 55 replacements. By Tuesday, that group of 100 must be reduced to 85, to be further reduced in another week.
Because he will have started all three replacement games at inside linebacker and because he has 10 tackles and two assists so far, Humiston, a 6-foot 3-inch, 245-pounder, has a chance of making the first 85.
But because he started only three games in four seasons during his previous stint in the NFL, he might be one of the first to go.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter. It’s not the point.
“If they want to keep me, it’s just an added bonus,” he said. “Already, my son tells his friends that his daddy plays pro football. When I called him the other night, he said he had told his girlfriend that I played for the Chargers, and to make sure that she was watching TV for Sunday’s game.
“I’ve already got what I came here for.”
His son will certainly be watching Sunday’s game.
Humiston hopes that at his son’s television party, Benny will brag to all of his friends about his dad. It will be good for him to brag to his friends about something.
“Benny still looks normal, but he’s starting to get cramps in his legs 24 hours a day, so he’s always falling,” said Humiston. “Now, kids are starting to push him down because they think it looks funny when he tries to get up. He’s got bumps and bruises all over his legs. Kids can be so cruel.
“All Benny ever wants is a new pair of shoes, because he thinks they will let him run like other kids, and be like other kids.”
Humiston hopes that this Sunday, Benny will finally feel better than those other kids.
“I want him to say, ‘Daddy, wow, you hit that guy hard,’ ” said Humiston. “Then somehow, I’d like to say something to him on TV, give him a sign or something.”
Humiston has certainly given the Chargers a sign. During practice Wednesday, after being cited by coaches for not showing enough leadership, he was involved in three fights. In one instance, it wasn’t even his fight.
“I saw another linebacker getting into it, and I’ve got to stick up for the linebackers,” said Humiston.
“He’s quite a law enforcer,” said defensive coordinator Ron Lynn. “Just look at his knuckles.”
That afternoon at a team meeting, Coach Al Saunders awarded Humiston a $75 gift certificate for being the club’s heavyweight champion.
“When Benny was diagnosed, the first thing I thought was, my son won’t play football, he won’t be a wrestler, he’ll never grow up like his daddy,” said Humiston. “It broke my heart. It still does. Maybe that’s why I play so hard.
“People always say they know what we are going through. That’s bull. They can’t possibly know.”
Because he must go through this latest trial several hundred miles from home, he calls his family (wife Debbie, daughter Danielle and Benny) nearly every day. He talks about why he’s here, and how much he wants to be home.
“We have a tough family. We’ve been through a lot, we’re going through a lot,” he said. “But things aren’t going to get worse. They cannot get worse. They can only get better.”
