Wings of a Bird

Strangers knew violence well - Seattle P-I
One was revered and feared on the football field, the other on the streets. Ken Hamlin and Terrell Milam didn't know each other until their worlds collided in violence.
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Hamlin made a loud impression in his first professional game. In the 2003 season opener, he unleashed a brutal hit, knocking New Orleans Saints receiver Donte' Stallworth five feet into the air, separating Stallworth from both ball and helmet. The hit was the talk of the NFL. It made all the highlight reels, and made Hamlin an instant Seahawks star.
He soon gained notoriety as an aggressive defensive back, a hard hitter who earned the nickname "The Hammer." His strut and swagger and on-field ferocity brought the team's defense a reputation they'd been sorely lacking: as intimidators.
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At his Oct. 22 funeral about 700 people -- young and old, in suits and street clothes -- turned out to remember his ability to light up a room, his devotion to his two kids and how he taught others to stand tall.
"My brother, he was a giant. He was charismatic, suave," his brother Tremaine Isabell said in an interview. "My brother was game. He could be mad. He could be mean. He could be the angel if he's on your side."
But to authorities, he was "a dangerous man" with a long criminal record. He spent nine of the past 11 years behind bars, serving time on McNeil Island and in Clallam Bay, Shelton and Walla Walla for a host of crimes: dealing cocaine in downtown Seattle, shooting a man in the face in a dispute over a dice game jackpot, firing at a police officer, illegally owning a bulletproof vest. ...