An emotional Dez Bryant pays tribute after his father's death
After hauling in a 50-yard touchdown catch on Sunday, Dallas Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant tapped his heart, pointed skyward and blew a kiss to the heavens. As he knelt just beyond the Heinz Field end zone, several teammates consoled him before he blew another kiss on his way back to the sideline.
The reception gave the Cowboys a 23-18 lead in the third quarter, but this was about more than that.
Bryant’s father, MacArthur Hatton, died on Saturday as the result of an undisclosed illness, according to The Dallas Morning News. The All-Pro wide receiver did not speak to the media after the game, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and several players offered insight into how Bryant was coping on Sunday.
“I’m going to say something that he may not say,” said Jones, per The Dallas Morning News. If he would want to be any place in the world after finding out he just lost his daddy, he would want to be around these people in this locker room and their love. He was in the right spot today.”
Added fellow wideout Cole Beasley: “He was out there balling for his dad.”
“We kind of shared this morning about the things I have been through,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott told reporters, via DallasCowboys.com. “I kind of let him know this game brings you peace and use it that way. Your father, he is watching you. He’s got the best seat in the house, and I told him to go out there and honor him today, and Dez did exactly that.”
Clearly, Bryant agreed with the sentiment expressed by Jones and others, calling the team “a family” on Twitter after his six-catch, 115-yard effort in Sunday’s 35-30 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Thank you Kavon and you are exactly right… we are a family https://t.co/2gwjxkkhQl
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) November 14, 2016
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett awarded an emotional Bryant the game ball after the performance.
Dez receiving the game ball from Coach Garrett. #DALvsPIT pic.twitter.com/S3scTt6DIJ
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) November 14, 2016
Bryant’s relationship with his father was complicated. From a Rolling Stone article in August 2015:
In truth, though, no one ever had it harder than Desmond D. Bryant coming up. His mother, [Angela,] the oldest of eight children by six fathers, was impregnated at 14 by her mother’s boyfriend, MacArthur Hatton, who’d also sired two of Angela’s siblings. Her mom, Virginia, left the house several months later to smoke crack. Angela quit high school, and replaced her mother in Mac’s bed, functioning — at 15 — as his spouse. Hatton was in his forties when Dez was born. No one called the cops on him for statutory rape, which should give some sense of the anarchy in that family.
Bryant lived with his father for a time during his formative years, some of which his mother spent in jail, but The Dallas Morning News reported in 2010, “The two have virtually no relationship today.” How that relationship had developed since remains uncertain, but Bryant paid tribute to his father on Instagram Sunday night: “I honestly don’t know a man who walked this Earth stronger than you.”
A photo posted by Dez Bryant (@dezbryant) on Nov 13, 2016 at 6:36pm PST
And how Bryant coped before and after his father’s death has earned the respect of his teammates.
“To see that growth as an individual and who he is, he’s a rock for that and for his family and for his dad,” veteran Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said of Bryant with reporters after the game, according to The Dallas Morning News. “I know his dad is proud of him, and to see Dez overcome any obstacles he’s had in his life and to be the man he is today, as a big brother, I’m proud of him tonight.”
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
