If the football game Monday night in Oakland could flow toward intrigue, the Raiders would confront a third-and-pass situation by splitting receiver Javon Walker wide to the right.
Awaiting him would be Champ Bailey, the Broncos’ left cornerback.
The matchup might cause the spirit of Darrent Williams to smile and say: “All-ready.”
When Williams, the Broncos’ outgoing cornerback, was killed on New Year’s Day 2007, no two teammates were more emotionally affected than Walker and Bailey. Walker, whose lap cushioned the slain Williams in the back of a Hummer stretch limousine, was so distraught he was the only known Broncos player who did not attend the funeral in Fort Worth, Texas.
Bailey, who played a surrogate big brother role to the Broncos’ 2005 drafted trio of cornerbacks — Williams, Domonique Foxworth and Karl Paymah — was the only Bronco unable to walk by the casket as Williams lay in state.
“Thinking back to that, I can’t even tell you the state of mind I was in,” Bailey said. “It was unbelievable that had happened and it was hard to deal with. It was like he was my little brother. When they brought those three kids in, and I’m the vet, obviously I knew I was supposed to take care of these guys.”
To begin their second season since Williams was killed, the Broncos will be taking on a Raiders team that now features Walker, who is listed as questionable for the opener with a pulled hamstring. Williams may be gone but Bailey has not forgotten, and he wants to help make sure others don’t either.
Bailey is co-chairing a fundraiser Monday, Sept. 15, at Morton’s, The Steakhouse, in the Denver Tech Center that will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver and the Darrent Williams Teen Center of Montbello. The other co-chairmen are John Lynch and Foxworth, who were Bailey’s teammates as recently as the start of training camp. Both became ex-teammates by preseason’s end.
Foxworth has been traded to Atlanta, and Lynch was recently released by New England. Lynch plans to attend the event, and Foxworth is going to try.
“It is a little strange the other two chairmen for this are gone, but in the end we’re all still family,” Bailey said. “We’re like a big fraternity here. Whether you’re here or on another team, the way the business is, why not stick to what you believe in? It’s not like we don’t care for Darrent’s cause just because they work for another team. He is still a friend of ours and somebody we all cared about.
“You don’t know how you are going to handle losing somebody close to you, but as you start thinking about it, I think the best way is to help out other people in the community. Especially kids because that was a passion Darrent had, so we’ll try to carry it on.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
