Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall was born a fighter. He entered the world without a heartbeat. Doctors worked frantically to save him. Born four months premature, Hall was given just a 1% chance to survive and was placed on life support. While still in the hospital, he suffered a brain bleed. Doctors advised his family not to continue life-saving measures, 

but his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, refused to give up.

“I had to give him a shot at living,” she told ESPN. “I had to give him a shot at being someone who could change the world because apparently God had a plan for this kid.”

Nearly twenty-five years later, that plan became clear. Derick Hall didn’t just survive,

he became a Super Bowl champion.

Continuing the Fight

Once Hall was released from the hospital, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Throughout his childhood, he battled frequent asthma attacks and was hospitalized numerous times because of them. Despite these challenges, he gravitated toward football, first playing tackle football when he was nine. His mom and coaches always armed him with an emergency inhaler. When asthma attacks struck, he was hospitalized for days or even weeks.

Despite these challenges, Hall excelled on the football field, becoming a four-star recruit out of Gulfport High School in Mississippi. His senior year, he recorded 83 total tackles, including 62 solo tackles, making him the eighth-ranked defensive end in the state of Mississippi. He ultimately committed to Auburn after graduating from high school.

A Champion Is Born

Hall spent four years at Auburn, with his breakout year coming as a senior, where he recorded 60 tackles, seven sacks, and two forced fumbles. This performance led to him being drafted with the 37th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

In this year’s Super Bowl, Hall had the game of his life, recording two sacks and a forced fumble.

After the game, he had an incredible moment to reflect on the impact the game has had on his life and give praise to the one person who never gave up on him: his mother.

“I feel like she’s the unsung hero, the unsung warrior, through this whole process,” he told reporters postgame. “She always fought for me, she never gave up… and to be able to play football, man, what this game has done for me and my family, I’ll never be able to repay. You always have love and respect [for the game], and I feel like I showed it every single time I stepped on the field.”

Taking after his mother, Hall continues to fight for others. In 2024, he launched the Derick Hall One Percent Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives by supporting premature infants and their families through the financial and emotional challenges of early birth, combating food insecurity, and promoting healthy lifestyles in underserved communities.

At just 24 years old, Derick Hall is a Super Bowl champion  but more importantly, he’s a shining example of taking the challenges he faced and turning them into a way to lift others up. From being born premature with a slim chance to survive, Hall not only overcame the odds, but now uses his journey to inspire and support others facing similar circumstances.

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