One of the most disturbing images in 2010 was the sight of Eric LeGrand lying motionless on the field after making a head-first tackle during a kickoff return in an October game between Rutgers and Army at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The most heartwarming photograph of 2011, taken just a year later, portrays a beaming LeGrand—who was paralyzed on that play but after 15 months of rehabilitation has miraculously begun regaining feeling—flanked by his Scarlet Knights teammates as he prepares to lead them onto a snowy field for a game against West Virginia. The image, shot by Mel Evans and published by Sports Illustrated (SI) as its December 26 cover, was deemed the Best Moment of 2011, according to thousands of fans voting from 178 nations who responded to the fans’ choice poll conducted on SI’s Facebook page.
Says senior SI writer Alexander Wolff: “When LeGrand walks again—not if he does, as he will hasten to tell you—he knows exactly what he will do. ‘I’ll go to Giants Stadium and find the exact spot of the field that I went down,’ he told SI’s Jon Wertheim. ‘I’ll lie there for a second. And then I’ll get up on my own power and walk away.’”