It was an up-the-middle running play against Green Bay. Miami Dolphin fullback Norm Bulaich took the handoff and had gained about 10 yards when Packer defensive back Steve Luke's elbow smashed through the bars of his face mask. "It was a clean shot," Bulaich says. "I was knocked out and woke up on the ground with the trainer standing over me. I could feel the indentation in my upper jaw and eye socket. I knew something was broken. I wasn't dazed or groggy. I just hurt like hell. I wanted to go home to my wife."
Doctors found that 12 bones in his face were shattered. They wired three of them together and simply put the others back in place to heal. Meantime Bulaich's sinuses are stuffed with gauze, and at night his head is cradled in what he calls his "doughnut," a cast that keeps him still when he sleeps. "I can't lie on my side," he says, "or get my head wet. I'm also gumming a lot of my food." He is expected to recover fully by the end of the year.
A 10-year veteran of the pros, Bulaich has ended his career. Injuries have always plagued him: He was often sidelined during his undergraduate days at Texas Christian, tore three leg muscles his first year in the NFL and was having knee trouble last September. "Football has been good to me," Bulaich says. "But this injury put the icing on the cake. I don't need another hit like that. I'm ugly enough as it is."
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