Wayne needs to listen to Toon

Shaun Powell - SPORTS COLUMNIST
November 8, 2005

After the first few times he saw stars and little birdies flying around, Al Toon says the thought of retiring entered his mind, once he removed the cobwebs."Every time you get hit like that," Toon said yesterday, "you definitely ask yourself: Is it really worth it? Then you recover, everything seems fine and you say, OK."But that last one was different."The last one came a few days after Thanksgiving in 1992, when the great receiver, the most popular player on the Jets, absorbed another mighty blow to the brain, this time during a game at Denver. His teammates and coaches had seen enough, his wife had had enough, and once he could remember his name, Toon was pretty sure he'd caught enough passes.And yet there was what he called a "process," which euphemistically means a small yet stubborn idea that he could get through this one, too."But when they put the cards on the table, I was sure," said Toon, 42. "That was it."Wayne Chrebet right now is going through his "process" because he didn't announce the obvious yesterday, one day after his head bounced off the turf in the closing minutes for his seventh concussion as a pro.

The cards are being placed on the table for Chrebet, and my guess is his wife did the dealing. She's telling him, "That's it," strong advice that's likely being repeated not only by doctors but coach Herman Edwards and other team officials who hope he never suits up again, for his sake.Common sense says Chrebet will never play another down and will leave the game much the way Toon did 13 years ago: with health and legacy never to be threatened again."Football wasn't so consumptive in my life, and that's what helped me make my decision," Toon said.

In the football sense, it only seemed Toon had more reasons to stay. Unlike Chrebet, Toon was still a pivotal part of the Jets, still a dangerous receiver, and fully capable of achieving his goal of playing 10 years in the NFL instead of stopping at eight. But in another sense, Toon already had a rich and fulfilling post-football life awaiting him, and he did what receivers do: He grabbed it."The game is limited, but I already knew that," Toon said. "I still remember early in my career, sitting in the locker room, when James Nicholas, one of our doctors, walked past one of my teammates receiving treatment. He said, 'There's only so many cuts in that knee.' He was right. I had to think past that last play."Therefore, while he made Pro Bowls, built a solid body of work, climbed the Jets' all-time receiving list and caught at least one pass in 101 straight games, Toon was comfortable when the inevitable conclusion arrived. He lives near Madison, Wis., where he went to college, and is busy with family and business obligations. Toon is part-owner of a bank, runs a real estate company, has a Taco Bell franchise and dabbles in other investments.

His best time is spent as a part-time coach to his son, Nicholas, now a high school junior who's getting attention from recruiters because of his own pass-catching ability. There also are daughters in 10th, eighth and fifth grades, and a wife who lived through the concussions to recently celebrate the couple's 20th anniversary."It's been a great life," Toon said. "I've been tremendously blessed."Thanks to his wise decision to step away while he still could tell his left foot from his right, Toon enjoys the benefits of fatherhood and business without any serious lingering aftereffects from football. Last year he competed in his first triathlon, which he called "the most satisfying thing I've done, from an athletic standpoint." His objective was to finish under 14 hours and he managed to do that, with one second to spare.

Now it's another Jets receiver's turn to explore his next life.It's time for Chrebet to spend Sunday afternoons with the two kids, tend to the horses or just walk down the road from his beautiful New Jersey countryside mansion and borrow a cup of sugar from Bruce Springsteen."He should listen to his doctors," Toon said.Actually, he shouldn't even bother asking them.