He Walked Away From Football : Athletes: Tim Lewis quit after an injury while with the Green Bay Packers. Doctor told him: ‘You never should have played the game.’

War and football are often viewed as analogous. Tim Lewis discovered that and walked away from football rather than risk paralysis or death.

“The Marines and the Army use discipline to get a man to walk into bullets,” said George Young, the general manager of the NFL’s New York Giants.

“Football players have to be disciplined in much the same way--to give pain or absorb it. It’s not natural to get a soldier to walk into bullets. And what we do in football isn’t much more natural.”

That’s why Lewis quit.

In 1985, in his third year as a defensive back for the Green Bay Packers, he tackled Willie Gault and went down, no feeling in his arms or legs. It had happened before and he had recovered, so he assumed he’d recover again. He did, but doctors told him his body wasn’t equipped to absorb the shocks and stresses of everyday collisions.

“As an athlete, I thought I’d be ready in a couple of days,” Lewis said. “But the doctor (at Mayo Clinic) told me I had a congenitally narrow (spinal) canal. ‘You never should have played the game,’ he told me. Usually, they tell you it’s just a stinger, you’ll be all right.”

“You’re not washed up,” Lewis said a doctor told him. “You’re Mr. Invincible, Mr. Tough Guy. He said, ‘Go tell Coach Gregg you can play. It’s just a bruise. Just a bruise.’ ”

But Coach Forrest Gregg told Lewis that he should go to the Mayo Clinic and that he would abide by the findings of the doctors there.

The findings at Mayo?

Lewis was crazy to be playing.

“The doctor there asked me if I had my college degree. I told him I did, and he said ‘Use it.’ ”

He interviewed for many jobs, but ended up coaching, eventually landing back at Pitt, the University of Pittsburgh, his alma mater.

Most important, he’s still walking.

“I think all players are afraid,” he said. “In football, many a locker-room conversation is about how I hope this doesn’t happen and that doesn’t happen. But when the whistle blows, fear goes out of your mind. You’re invincible. You’re Superman; you’re a projectile missile.

“You’re more afraid of looking soft and intimidated. Your body is the last thing you think about.”