Former Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox knows Ryan Shazier's situation all too well

The memory never leaves, but Tommy Maddox usually can tuck away thoughts of Nashville, Keith Bullock and Nov. 17, 2002, and go about his business.

It takes some resolve to do that. After all, that was the day, he said, “I lost feeling in everything.”

But when he turned on the television Monday night to watch the Steelers, his former team, play the Cincinnati Bengals, there was Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier laying on the turf at Paul Brown Stadium after injuring his spine making a tackle.

By the end of the night, Maddox was back in time.

“When they started talking about it after the game, I said ‘I heard a lot of those things before,' ” he said Tuesday after a day of teaching business management to students at Decatur (Texas) High School.

The last regular Steelers quarterback before Ben Roethlisberger, Maddox doesn't remember much about the hit that caused temporary paralysis, officially diagnosed as cerebral and spinal concussions. But he has a good reason.

“I got hit in the head,” he said.

A game the Steelers eventually lost to the Tennessee Titans wasn't going well when Maddox rolled out to pass in the third quarter and was knocked off his feet by Bullock, a linebacker.

Falling forward, Maddox hit his head and lost consciousness. When he woke up, he couldn't move his arms or legs.

Much like the scene Monday in Cincinnati, Adelphia Coliseum went silent as medical personnel tended to Maddox. Players and coaches started praying. “Sometimes, it's maybe harder on the teammates,” he said.

After a trip by ambulance to Baptist Hospital, Maddox regained all feeling that night and was asking amazed doctors when he could play football again.

“I wanted to get back out there, but at some point you have to think about some things past the game,” he said. “Health wise, by the time Sunday rolled around, I was running and throwing and doing all those things.”

As it turned out, he was replaced for two games by Kordell Stewart, the man whose job he took earlier that season.

His first game back was rough — the Houston Texans returned two interceptions and a Maddox fumble for touchdowns — but the Steelers won the next three and reached the playoffs.

Six weeks after the injury, Maddox set a Steelers postseason record that still stands, throwing for 367 yards in a 36-33 victory against the Cleveland Browns, rallying the team from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter.

When he retired after backing up Roethlisberger during the 2005 Super Bowl season, Maddox went back to school and earned degrees in history and kinesiology. He teaches business management and is Decatur's baseball coach and a football assistant.

He hopes to speak to Shazier in two weeks when he'll attend the Steelers game Dec. 17 against the New England Patriots at Heinz Field.

“Football is a violent sport,” Maddox said. “Everybody knows it going in. When Ryan got hurt, it brings reality back to the mix in a hurry.”

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.