Doobie Kurus learned last fall that his former Gophers football teammate Ed Hawthorne was sick and desperately needed a kidney transplant.
On the surface, those two shared little in common as college students, other than being teammates in the early 1990s.
Hawthorne is a black man from Missouri who became team captain and an All-Big Ten nose tackle.
Kurus is a white New Jersey native who joined the Gophers as a walk-on and played sparingly.
They viewed themselves as brothers though, a bond forged by football. Teammates look out for each other. They take care of each other. They pick each other up when one gets knocked down _ on the field or in life.
On June 30, after a lengthy process, Kurus gave Hawthorne one of his kidneys in a transplant performed at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Hawthorne says his teammate saved his life.
"Can't thank him enough," he said.
Their bond is a testament to their personalities and the power of relationships often formed within locker rooms.
Kurus' high school didn't field a football team, so he had never played the sport when he arrived on campus. He decided to walk on because he was a good athlete and wanted to give it a shot. A Gophers assistant coach reluctantly gave him a uniform.
Kurus only played on special teams, the dirty work. He was tough, scrappy and did whatever anyone asked.
Hawthorne, a star who later played one NFL season for the Miami Dolphins, embraced Kurus as a valuable member of the team. They didn't hang out together socially, but they were friends.
"I tried to be friends with everybody," Hawthorne said.
Back then, the Gophers equipment staff created an honor called the "Equipment Team All-Americans" _ a way to recognize players that treated them with respect and gratitude. They named Hawthorne their MVP in 1994. Kurus was voted to the team as well. He still has a tattered T-shirt commemorating that honor.
"Put it this way: If I was a jerk, we wouldn't be sitting here right now," Hawthorne said during an interview with Kurus by his side.
