In March 2016, former Alabama star fullback Kevin Turner, known to Crimson Tide fans as "The Anvil," died following a six-year battle with ALS. He was 46.
Turner, an outspoken advocate for concussion research and one of the leading plaintiff's for a concussion-related lawsuit against the NFL, didn't blame football for his condition. His story has been the subject of many powerful profiles, including an HBO documentary in 2012, and now HBO has circled back with an updated story for this week's edition of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." It's titled "The Game He Loved."
"[Turner] loved the game that made him a prominent and beloved football player at Alabama and enjoyed an eight-year NFL career, where he used his head as a battering ram at fullback," CBS Sports' Jon Solomon wrote in a column about Turner after his death.
Tuesday's feature on Turner is set to include conversations with Dabo Swinney, Turner's Alabama teammate, along with his son, Nolan, who is now a member of the Clemson football team. Swinney offered Nolan a scholarship shortly before his father's death in March, and in January, he got to experience the game's biggest thrill winning the national championship against Alabama.
"It couldn't have happened at a better time," Joyce Marie Turner, Nolan's mother and Kevin's ex-wife, told Solomon earlier this month. "Kevin was dying. We knew Nolan was a really good football player but probably was overlooked. His life was turned upside down for a long time at such a young age with our marriage and his dad's diagnosis. It was overwhelming when Nolan called and told me. I sat down and cried."
The ties between Clemson, Alabama, Swinney and the Turner family will be one of the subjects of HBO's feature, along with interviews taped prior to Kevin Turner's death. "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" airs Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET.
