From the moment Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed in a pro football game Monday, the sports world has wrestled with how to respond.

Reports are that Mr. Hamlin is slowly improving. Throughout the ordeal, teams and fans have shown how rivalries and the game itself have fallen away. What has mattered is the safety and health of a beloved young man.

When considering restarting the game Monday night, Bills coach Sean McDermott said, “I need to be at the hospital for Damar, and I shouldn’t be coaching this game,” according to Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday. Shortly after, the game was abandoned – an unprecedented decision.

“Seeing the way he handled his team just deepened that respect for him and verified everything I always thought he was about as a man,” Mr. Taylor said of his colleague.

Mr. Hamlin’s 2-year-old GoFundMe to buy toys for children sat at $2,500 last week. It now has more than $7 million.

As a journalist, my thoughts also go back to Monday night. The world was watching, yet there was almost no new information to report. ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt made a decision. “I kept leaning into what we know,” he told CNN.

For example, unlike other networks, he decided not to bring on medical experts to guess at what might be happening. “I just didn’t want to be speculating,” he said. Instead he focused on a conversation with Ryan Clark, a former player who also almost died after a game. “I felt that Ryan’s perspective and his words were just so powerful,” Mr. Van Pelt said. 

Days later, that might seem like a small thing. But it spoke to how the incident also brought out the best across many communities, and is a reminder of a standard for the best journalism. In times of crisis, only a deep humanity can help us move forward, step by step.