Web extra | Safety Hakim Akbar: "I tried to play with no fear"

One of Curtis Williams' best friends on the 2000 Husky football team was Hakim Akbar, a fellow safety from California. Akbar roomed with Williams during away games, and the two talked about making it to the NFL together.

Williams' injury changed all that. "I was thinking about quitting," Akbar says. "I was really upset, man. I couldn't see how something that freakish could happen. Personally, it scared me."

Akbar and Williams had the same approach to the game. Both spurned mouth guards, a standard piece of protective gear: "We didn't need them; we thought we were invincible."

Both went for the ball carrier's mouth: "We made sure they would feel us and know us by the end of the game," Akbar said. "We would hit their face with our masks, with the tip of our heads, just to make it a bigger blast."

When Williams was on the field, Akbar says, "no fear was in his eyes." Away from the field, "he was a happy spirit. He was always playful and fun. He would kid around and joke. People were drawn to him. He had the biggest smiles, man."

Williams was injured in late October, during the UW-Stanford game. About two months later, the UW played in the Rose Bowl. That morning, medical personnel wheeled Williams into the UW's locker room. Paralyzed from the neck down, he had lost almost 40 pounds. He was moved from a gurney to a wheelchair and given a Rose Bowl jersey with his number, 25, to wear.

Trainers and managers visited first. Then came two Husky legends, former head coach Don James and former defensive lineman Steve Emtman. Finally, Williams' teammates filed in. With an ABC camera crew taping the reunion, some teammates kissed Williams on the forehead or patted him on the shoulder. Williams whispered in return.

Akbar says: "I gave him a hug, and I told him I love him, and I told him I'm going to play really hard for him. That's why I had a game that was so intense at the Rose Bowl. I tried to play with no fear, and I think I did. I remember I hit a guy, and his mouth was all bloody."

Less than two weeks later, Akbar announced he would leave school early and enter the NFL draft. "I thought, 'Hey, if I'm going to get hurt, I'm going to get paid getting hurt.' "

He also wanted to help his family. His father was in prison, and his mother and sister were struggling.

The New England Patriots drafted Akbar in the fifth round.

In November 2001, a year after Williams was hurt, Akbar suffered a spinal injury and nearly died. He was driving home, alone and tired, after socializing with teammates. He says he fell asleep at the wheel and woke up to find he was speeding down the interstate, going at least 80 mph.

His Cadillac Escalade went off the road, and Akbar, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was thrown 30 feet through the sunroof. He spent a month in the hospital, eating through an IV, with three fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and an injured hip and shoulder.

Police said alcohol wasn't involved. But Akbar was charged with driving with the intent to endanger, among other offenses.

A doctor told Akbar he wouldn't play football again. But three months after the accident, Akbar was working out, preparing to make his way back. Although he didn't play in the Super Bowl, the Patriots presented him with a ring. Afterward, the team released him.

Akbar's career became a blur of teams and injuries — the Texans, Rams, Buccaneers, Jaguars and the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders; a torn knee ligament, separated shoulder, pulled hamstring and two dislocated fingers. Since quitting the game in 2006, Akbar has had three surgeries, with three more to go.

These days, Akbar lives in California. He's investing in real estate and thinking of starting a bar and grill, maybe with some memorabilia on the walls.

Akbar would like to re-enroll at the UW. "I felt like I didn't get a chance to be a college guy," he says. "Football was so serious to me. I didn't have time to go to college events, or to do the things my peers were trying." Akbar wants to finish the degree he left behind: "It's missing, and I want it in my life."

Akbar played just long enough to earn NFL retirement benefits. "I don't regret anything," he says. "I have a Super Bowl ring, a Rose Bowl ring, I've got a pension, I've got it good. I'm just living, and happy to be alive."

Nick Perry:

206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com; Ken Armstrong: 206-464-3730 or karmstrong@seattletimes.com.