Nobody will forget the name Damar Hamlin for a long time.

Sports fans probably never will.

His story isn’t over yet and his road to recovery has only begun. But from the moment the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety and Central Catholic graduate collapsed on the field in Cincinnati, he gripped the nation.

This isn’t a movie. It’s not a soap opera or a television drama. This is a man who went into cardiac arrest in front of a filled football stadium on national TV. His life was saved by the instantaneous action of athletic trainers and medical personnel on the sidelines.

By the way, if we didn’t appreciate the presence of athletic trainers at local sporting events before. we certainly should now. And that’s just part of that story.

Damar is a Pittsburgh area guy. As we learned his background as a human being — how he opted to play at the University of Pittsburgh because he wanted to stay close to his family’s home in McKees Rocks, to serve as a mentor for his younger brother — we discovered this is a high-quality individual.

Before he was drafted by Buffalo, Damar started his on-line drive for Toys for Kids in his hometown in 2020, the year COVID-19 struck and affected numerous families financially. Damar was hoping to raise $2,500 to make sure kids had presents for Christmas.

Everyone knows how that GoFund Me cause has soared over $7 million since Damar’s on-field accident. People all over the country wanted a way to lend support toward the man’s cause and well-being beyond prayer.

The goodness in people isn’t publicized as often as it should. Young people’s lives are struck down, shattered or downright taken away every day, whether by car accident, cancer, victims of crime, etc. We see these stories on the news, read about them in newspapers.

They are real, for sure.

Damar’s physical collapse was witnessed by millions. That’s what made it different. It dominated social media within minutes. It resulted in the suspension and eventual cancellation of one of the biggest regular season games of the season in America’s most popular sport.

It humanized people we previously viewed as guys in helmets and uniforms, performing for our cities, helping us win on football squares or in fantasy football leagues.

We suddenly realized there are faces inside of those helmets, with families and personal lives. Those families are far-reaching —former Slippery Rock University standout running back Dorrian Glenn is Damar’s uncle and served as spokesman for the family to some national media outlets in the past week.

Sorry, Dallas, but the Buffalo Bills have become America’s team. Unless your own team is alive in the NFL playoffs — maybe not even then — everyone must be pulling for the Bills to win it all.

It’d be a fitting ending to a gripping story.

One thing we’ve learned from this past week — human spirit is a powerful, powerful thing.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle