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Syracuse Basketball: Damar Hamlin is ‘great role model’ – Adam Weitsman

Neil Adler
Neil Adler

Inside the Loud House

Syracuse basketball, Damar Hamlin, Adam Weitsman (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist Adam Weitsman has sat courtside with numerous celebrities and superstar athletes, and his upcoming guest for a Syracuse basketball game – Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin – is a positively beautiful human being and a true inspiration to us all, Weitsman says.

Weitsman said via his Instagram page that Hamlin is expected to sit courtside with Weitsman for this Saturday’s home game between the ‘Cuse and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Duke.

Syracuse basketball will tip off against the Blue Devils beginning at 6 pm on Saturday, Feb. 18, at the JMA Wireless Dome. ESPN will televise this conference contest.

On Instagram, Adam Weitsman wrote that Damar Hamlin, his upcoming guest at the Dome, “will be personally, my most special one. Huge inspiration to me and everyone else in the #315 and around the world.”

Adam Weitsman talks about Damar Hamlin, who will attend Saturday’s Syracuse basketball game.

The 24-year-old Hamlin, who went to Pittsburgh during his collegiate career, went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field by medical professionals during an NFL regular-season game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals in early January.

The game ended up being canceled, and Hamlin spent more than a week in the hospital. The outpouring of support for Damar Hamlin across the country and around the world has proven beautiful.

This past Sunday night, when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL’s Super Bowl, Hamlin and Weitsman were both in attendance.

Adam Weitsman said to me via text message that he and Hamlin got together at the Super Bowl, “and he felt healthy enough to travel to Cuse for the big game.”

Weitsman says that he and Hamlin “have become close friends this year post-accident after I reached out to him to say I was praying for him and his family on Instagram.”

Damar Hamlin is “a great role model and inspiration to our area youth, including students,” Weitsman says.

On February 8, the NFL Players Association (“NFLPA”) announced that Hamlin was named the recipient of the 2023 Alan Page Community Award.

At that time, the NFLPA said it was donating $100,000 to Hamlin’s Chasing M’s Foundation.

An article from Geoff Herbert of Syracuse.com says that since his collapse, Hamlin’s foundation has raised more than $9 million in GoFundMe donations.

During the current 2022-23 season for the ‘Cuse, guests of Adam Weitsman have included hip-hop artists/songwriters A Boogie and Fabolous, actor Cole Hauser, and Eagles players Jalen Hurts and Brandon Graham.

It’s wonderful that Adam Weitsman, a generous and kind soul, is having Damar Hamlin as his guest this Saturday. Hopefully, the Orange will beat Duke.

Thank you, Adam. And sending much love to Damar.

Neil Adler

Neil Adler

Since 2016, Neil has served as a writer with Inside The Loud House, while also taking on the role of editor in 2020. Neil, a graduate of Syracuse University in 2000, primarily covers 'Cuse basketball, football, recruiting, NIL and conference realignment issues. Neil has been an avid Syracuse sports enthusiast dating back to the 1980s. While with Loud House, Neil is regularly heard on the radio in Central New York, while also participating in numerous podcasts related to the 'Cuse. His exclusive reports are often picked up by other media outlets, too. When not writing about Syracuse sports, Neil also co-owns a marketing agency in the Washington, D.C., market. He loves playing hoops and buying basketball cards with his son, spending time with his parents, brother and nephews, and listening to Duran Duran.