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Seahawks Super Bowl hero Derick Hall opens up about how ‘God’ saved him from near-certain death

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Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made his mark on NFL history when he came up with a tone-setting strip sack in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots this February.

There’s a low percent chance that any football player will get a moment like that in his career. But Hall had to beat much greater odds. Hall had a 1% chance of survival when he was born four months premature at just 23 weeks gestation, born without a heartbeat and suffering from a brain bleed.

“I wasn’t born… breathing,” he told Fox News Digital. “I was born dead.

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For his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, those first days of her son’s life were filled with uncertainty and fear.

“Emotional, a lot of uncertainty, scared,” she said of her emotions in the days that followed her son’s premature birth. “But… those weren’t the feelings that I was feeling during Derrick’s birth. I just trusted that God would work everything out.”

That belief became the center of how the family made sense of everything that followed.

“It is probably the most important thing that we share,” Gooden-Crandle said of their religion.

“We are people of faith and have been for most of my lifetime. I joined church when I was 16 years old, and I’ve just grown up as a woman of faith. I’ve raised my children in the church and instilled faith in them and just allowed them to flourish in their faith in their walk with Christ.”

For Hall, growing up inside that environment gave meaning to struggles he didn’t yet understand.

“It was huge. It was amazing because I never really understood why me or why my family had to go through what I was going through,” Hall said said.

“My pastor always told me, you weren’t dying for this, you are blessed to be in this position and God has something greater for you, and I think that helped me be at ease with the situation and the things that me and my family were enduring during the time.

“I always speak to my faith because obviously I’m a miracle child, and I don’t say I’m doing good, I say I’m blessed, I can’t complain, I’m above ground and I’m blessed… You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live and not supposed to be walking, not supposed to be talking, not even supposed to be alive, ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives.”

Even after surviving infancy, the challenges didn’t disappear, and his childhood looked very different from other kids.

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“My hardest time period was from about the age of four or five to about the age of 12 or 13,” Hall said. “I could go out and play, but it was only for about five minutes at a time and I would have to go sit down for an hour just to allow my body and my lungs to catch back up, and to this day my lungs are still underdeveloped, they always will be, they’ll always be three years behind.”

Those limits extended into nearly every part of his life, including the seasons when other kids were outside playing freely.

But through it all, Hall discovered football, and his condition wasn’t going to keep him from the game that would define his life.

“I started playing football at the age of four because I was trying to develop my body and get to the point where I was able to do things, and I fell in love with it because it was the first thing that I was able to do to make me feel like a normal kid,” he said.

For his mom, that moment came with a difficult decision about her son’s wellbeing.

“It was difficult to make the decision to allow him to play, so I allowed him to play flag football in the beginning, but making that jump to allow him to play tackle football when we were still seeing a neurologist every six months for a brain bleed, it was a difficult decision,” she said.

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“I made sure all the coaches had asthma pumps and rescue inhalers, and I gave one to the coaches, the trainers, I kept one, to make sure if somebody needed to get to him they had what he needed… And as he progressed, I was getting more and more comfortable.”

The faith in letting him play football paid off when Hall received his first college scholarship offer when he was just in the eighth grade, his mom said.

Hall went on to be a standout linebacker at Gulfport High School in Mississippi, rising from a touted four-star prospect to a dominant All-SEC edge rusher at Auburn University.

But even after coming all that way from his premature birth, he still had a moment where he feared for his life in college.

“I had a scare in college where I went to practice that morning and I wasn’t feeling that well, and the next day I got up to go use the restroom and I couldn’t take like two steps without gasping for air,” Hall said. “We got to the hospital and the doctor said, we’re glad you brought him because if you would have waited another hour he probably would have been in very bad shape.”

It was a turning point in how he approached his own limits. But he didn’t shy away from his passion as a football player, and remained committed to his faith.

Hall finished his career at Auburn with 147 tackles, 19.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in 40 games. A highly touted recruit, Hall developed into a dominant SEC starter, earning first-team All-SEC honors in 2022 as a team captain, known for his elite power, speed, and high motor.

It earned him a chance to take his extraordinary story to the NFL as he went on to be the 37th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

But the 2025 didn’t unfold the way Derrick Hall expected, at least in terms of his individual stats at first. For much of the year, the numbers didn’t match the effort. He was getting pressure, getting hits, doing the work that doesn’t always show up in headlines, but the sacks weren’t coming.

“I was steady getting hits… I’m getting pressures,” Hall said. “But I can’t get the sack… I’m like, Lord, whatever you got planned, let it reveal itself.”

Statistically, that frustration was real. Hall finished the regular season with just two sacks across 14 games, contributing more as a rotational edge presence than a headline pass rusher. But within Seattle’s defense — a unit built on balance, depth and consistent pressure — his role still mattered. The Seahawks leaned on a collective pass rush rather than one dominant star, finishing the season as one of the league’s more effective defensive fronts.

And then, almost all at once, everything changed.

On the biggest stage in football, in Super Bowl LX against the Patriots, Hall delivered the kind of performance that reshapes a career. He recorded two sacks and a forced fumble, including a strip sack that helped break the game open and set the tone for Seattle’s 29–13 win. That single play — driving through the offensive line, knocking the ball loose, and creating a turnover — became one of the defining moments of the game.

For Hall, it didn’t feel like a coincidence. It felt like timing.

“I got to that Super Bowl and I got both sacks, and I’m like, man, ain’t no time like God’s time,” he said. “That’s true, man.”

In a season where he had spent months waiting for production to match effort, the breakthrough came when it mattered most.

“Mentally it was tough this year,” he said. “But like I said, it’s a blessing.”

After the game, the numbers told one story: two sacks, a forced fumble, a championship. But for Hall, the meaning ran deeper, tied back to something far bigger than a stat sheet.

“You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live… ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives,” he said. “That’s a miracle in itself.”

Now, Hall and his mother are tying that story back to where it began — the neonatal intensive care unit — through a partnership with Huggies and its “Natural Born Fighters” campaign, which highlights premature babies and the care they receive in those earliest, most fragile days. The campaign focuses on supporting NICU infants with products designed alongside nurses and doctors to meet their specific needs.

For Stacy, the partnership is rooted in memories that she still holds close.

“Both of my children actually wore Huggies,” she said. “And I actually had one of their very first diapers… but now you gotta think, that’s 25 years ago, think about all the designs that they’ve done now… working with the NICU nurses and doctors to develop a diaper specifically for NICU babies, that to me states the best fight that you could ever want to have for a brand that wants to make sure that NICU babies have the best opportunities at the very beginning of their fight.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Pacers president apologizes to fans after team’s ‘risk’ backfires in NBA Draft Lottery

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41 minutes ago

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May 11, 2026

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The Indiana Pacers’ risky move backfired after the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery saw them lose their top pick altogether in a disastrous turn of events on Sunday afternoon.

Heading into the lottery, the Pacers, who went 19-63 just one season after reaching the NBA Finals out of the Eastern Conference, had a 52.1% chance of having a top-four pick.

However, when they didn’t see their team chosen in the first four picks – Indiana also had a 14% chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick – it was time to panic.

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The reason? The Pacers included their first-round pick in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers for Ivica Zubac, but they only made it a top-four protected pick. That means, if the Pacers were chosen in the lottery as a top-four selection, they would be able to keep it.

But the Pacers were chosen as the No. 5 pick, and the Clippers now own the selection in next month’s draft.

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As a result, Pacers team president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard took full responsibility for the move, apologizing on social media.

“I’m really sorry to all our fans,” he wrote on X. “I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember – this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.”

The Pacers were viewed as a team that were actively tanking despite the NBA’s attempt to crack down on such a season, with the lottery being one way of that. And it clearly worked this time around.

Pritchard was trying to be transparent and honest with the Pacers fan base, but people were quick to jump in the comments to make their thoughts, and gripes, known.

“You lose Myles Turner and add Zubac,” one X user began. “You lose [Benedict] Mathurin and the number 5 pick with absolutely nothing in return. This is why fans are upset, for a center who not even a top 5 center in the NBA. Who trades their future away for Ivan [sic] Zubac???”

Another X user called this a “generational draft,” and couldn’t fathom the Pacers won’t be picking from a deep class.

“If I were a Pacers fan and my team traded away a top 5 pick for Ivica Zubac in the middle of a tanking season I would be beyond devastated,” a fellow X user wrote.

The Pacers were without their All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton all season long after he suffered an Achilles injury during the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But Indiana still has key members of that team returning next season, including Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and Aaron Nesmith.

However, this 2026 draft class is quite the spectacle, with many believing it to be deep considering the talent of BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, UNC’s Caleb Wilson, and Duke’s Cam Boozer, among others.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Israeli PM Netanyahu argues public opinion shift on Israel ‘correlates almost 100%’ to social media

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41 minutes ago

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May 11, 2026

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on “60 Minutes” Sunday that the dramatic shift in public opinion on his country could be traced to the rise in social media.

“Israel has gone to unbelievable lengths to get innocent civilians out of harm’s way,” Netanyahu said. “We text message millions of text messages to them—make millions of phone calls to them, pamphlets, leaflets, you name it, OK? We have seen the deterioration of the support for Israel in the United States almost — I would say, it correlates almost 100% with the geometric rise of social media.”

He continued, “And that by itself is not what caused it. And I don’t believe in, you know, in censoring them or anything. But I’ll tell you what happened. We have several countries that basically manipulated social media. And they do it in a clever way. And that’s something that has hurt us badly.”

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Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel has made “mistakes” in its war against Hamas but emphasized that they were not deliberate actions.

“Israel is besieged on the media front, on the propaganda front, and we’ve not done well on the propaganda war,” he said.

Netanyahu remarked that even host Major Garrett would not be immune to negative propaganda if there was enough pressure against him.

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“I can paint you as a monster,” Netanyahu said. “And if I say it often enough, enough people will believe it.”

An NBC News poll in March found that only 32% of Americans view Israel positively while 39% of Americans saw the nation in a negative light. The shift was far more pronounced among Democrats and independents, while Republicans were still largely sympathetic to the Jewish state.

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This shift in opinion followed Israel’s war with Gaza, as well as the U.S.-led military strikes on Iran.

During the interview, Netanyahu indicated that the war with Iran was “not over” yet despite significant accomplishments.

“I think it accomplished a great deal, but it’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now, we’ve degraded a lot of it. But all that is still there, and there’s work to be done,” Netanyahu said.

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Yordan Alvarez trade talk heats up as Astros sit in last place with a wave of devastating injuries

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3 hours ago

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May 11, 2026

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The Houston Astros have been one of Major League Baseball’s most consistent franchises in the modern era. Over the last decade, the Astros have the second-most wins and second-highest winning percentage of any organization at 890-627. 

They’ve won two World Series titles, one in 2022 and the other in 2017. Though that 2017 championship is marred by one of the most egregious cheating scandals in baseball history. 

They’ve made the World Series four times since 2017, won the AL West seven out of eight years, and made the postseason eight years in a row. That streak ended in 2025, when a slew of injuries led to an 87-75 season. 2026 was supposed to be a return to form, led by ace Hunter Brown, new import Tatsuya Imai, closer Josh Hader, one of the best handful of hitters in baseball, Yordan Alvarez, and hope for a resurgent season back in Houston for Carlos Correa. 

Fast forward to mid-May, and the Astros are, well, bad. After yet another loss on Sunday, they’ve dropped to 16-25, sit tied for last place in the division, and have the second-worst run differential in the American League.

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 That’s just the start of their problems. 

Brown has been on the injured list for most of the season with a shoulder strain. Josh Hader has yet to pitch this year after suffering left biceps tendinitis. Jeremy Pena has been out since mid-April with a hamstring strain. Imai went down with arm fatigue after a brutal start to his MLB career, then blamed that arm fatigue on a tough adjustment to the US lifestyle. Christian Javier is out with a shoulder strain of his own.  

Then, the big blow. Just last week, Correa went down for the season with a torn ankle tendon, an injury that occurred during batting practice.

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Some of these injured players are set to return in the coming weeks, but it’s raising a difficult question for a team that’s always a part of the postseason conversation: Is it time to sell? The free agent market after the 2026 season isn’t a strong one, and the headliner, Tarik Skubal, is going to miss time with an injury of his own. Could Houston sell Alvarez and rebuild for next year and beyond? 

Bob Nightengale from USA Today broached that topic, quoting a “veteran scout” who likened Alvarez to Barry Bonds. Another executive said any potential trade package would be gigantic.

“He’s the greatest pure hitter I’ve seen in this game since Barry Bonds,” the scout said. “This guy is unbelievable. He’s the best pure hitter in the game, and it’s not close.”

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“If they traded him, I think they’d get a better package than what the Nationals got for Juan Soto,” added the executive.

Nightengale added that no deal is close, and it remains unlikely, but the Astros would be irresponsible not to listen if such an offer presents itself. Alvarez is, once again, having an outstanding season. Entering Sunday, he was hitting .327/.432/.660 with 13 home runs, good for a 195 weighted runs created plus and 2.1 wins above replacement.

He’s still just 28-years-old, and signed through the 2028 season. Though he has little defensive value, his offensive contributions are so valuable he’d bring back a number of top prospects. And any number of teams would be interested. 

The Mets, for example, are desperate for help on offense. The Boston Red Sox could be aggressive, and have the prospects to swing a deal. San Francisco under Buster Posey has shown a willingness to make big trades. There won’t be a shortage of suitors, if Alvarez is made available. And given Houston’s aging roster, overwhelming injuries, and poor start, maybe he should be.

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