Posts Tagged ‘Cancer’

Well, I am almost done with the migration of the Gate from its current location on the web to its new home with my new hosting provider: Media Temple.  So far, I have been nothing but impressed with what they have to offer and I hope that there are many great things to come in the future here as a result.   I anticipate the “flipping the switch” for the change over in the next day or so, thus, my prior warning about the possibility that the Gate might “go missing” stands for a little while longer.  Such is life.

At any rate, due to being tied up with all my hosting-reconfiguration activities, I haven’t really had a chance to finish up the post I had planned for today. Thus, at a minimum I wanted to pass on a few links and what-not that seemed worth giving a look.

• The Big Orange Roundtable Returneth: For those of you that remember the Vol-blogosphere’s little foray into collaboration from 2008, the roundtable is back.  Thus, the Big Orange Brethren (myself included) kickoff the 2009 Big Orange Roundtable this week with the first installment hosted by MoonDog.  For those of you who were not around for last year’s roundtable, it is a weekly roundtable discussion where a host poses a series of questions to the collective brain-trust of the Vol-blogosphere who, respond with their BS insightful and thought provoking answers.  At the end of the week, the host provides a round-up of the responses and the comments posted by each of the member Roundtable sites, along with a few parting thoughts.  It is a great series that was a lot of fun last season. Go ahead and check out this week’s questions.   I plan on posting my responses in the next day or so.
• Ray Nettles and the Long Road to Redemption: Ray Nettles was a linebacker for the Big Orange from 1969-1971, winning All-America and All-SEC honors in 1971.  Over the past 38 years since leaving Tennessee he has struggled with his demons and his own brand of inner-conflict.  Now, however, he talks of redemption and finding his way back home from battles with addiction, marital strife, and now cancer.  Throughout his journey he has been supported by his former teammates in ways that even he has a difficult time understanding.

  Video: Ray Nettles Seeks Redemption

  This is a really powerful story of success, collapse, failure, and recovery which I highly recommend. Via: Florida Times-Union • HT: The Vol Historian

• The 2008 Football Season in Seconds: Joel, “the Flashmaster General” offers up a re-cap of the entire 2008 football season in only seconds.   How, you ask? Through the miracles of the Adobe flash player, that’s how.  Check it out, just in case you forgot… Via: Rocky Top Talk

• At least I drive better than this: I am really not sure why this lady was having such a difficult time driving a golf cart. They are fairly simple inventions.  Two pedals.  One steering wheel.  Four tires.  Needless to say, I won’t be riding with her anytime soon.

  Video: How Not to Drive a Golf Cart

  Now I know where personal-injury lawyers get their clients… Via: Fandome

At any rate, I hope to have the Gate migrated to its new home and to finally be set for the upcoming football season soon.

Until then, this will have to do…

– So it goes …

Kay Yow

As a fan of the Lady Vols, it is a sad time.  Every team, every player, and every fan of women’s college basketball suffered a heartbreaking loss on Saturday…

After fighting for over 20 years, N.C. State Wolfpack Women’s Basketball Coach, Kay Yow lost her battle with breast cancer.  She was 66 years old.

Throughout her 38-year coaching career, Coach Yow was widely respected not only for her winning teams and spirit, but also for her courage, compassion, and loyalty.  Along with her overall record of 737-344 as a head coach, her induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, Coach Yow also served as assistant coach to Tennessee Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt during the 1984 Olympic Games, where the United States earned its first gold medal in Women’s Basketball.

On hearing of Yow’s passing, Coach Summitt reminisced on coaching with Kay Yow:

I was a young coach of 32 when I was asked to coach the 1984 Olympic Team.  When I decided who my number one assistant would be, I knew that I had to choose someone who would be loyal…who knew the game…someone I could trust and someone with great wisdom.  When it came time to make that decision, I picked Kay Yow.

Kay had great wisdom. She had a special way of telling you things that you really didn’t want to hear but needed to.  Kay was not a ‘yes’ woman.  She accepted the challenge of helping me to bring home the first gold medal to the United States in women’s basketball. It was a daunting task but Kay made it so much easier by helping to relieve the pressure.

Video: Coach Summitt Remembers Kay Yow | ESPN

Since the late 1980’s, however, Yow’s battles were not confined to the basketball court; Yow had been fighting for her life against breast cancer.  After undergoing a mastectomy in 1987, Yow seemed to be winning that fight until a recurrence in 2004.  As a result ,she missed 2 games in the 2004-05 season.  Continuing to fight, she never wavered in commitment to the players and team she loved, but was forced to take a 16 game leave of absence during the 2006-07 season.  Still, she returned to the court once more.

Then, this past December, after having just coached her 1000th game, Yow missed the next four games due to weakness from her ongoing cancer treatments before announcing in early January that she would be taking a leave of absence for the remainder of the season.  On Saturday, Coach Yow passed from this life.

Kay Yow was a pioneer in the game of women’s basketball.  More importantly, she was a testament to the enduring spirit of grace in the face of adversity.  Along with battling cancer and coaching her team, Coach Yow tirelessly worked to raise money for cancer research an to promote breast cancer awareness.  It was for this strength that Yow was awarded the inaugural Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2007 ESPYs, which was presented by Coach Summitt.  Said Summitt:

In the two decades she fought the disease, Kay never allowed herself to be victimized by cancer. Kay never pitied herself. Instead, she tried to bring awareness to the horrible disease that was robbing her of her life. Through her foundation in conjunction with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) – The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research, she did all that she could do to help others. That was just Kay.

Helping to get the cancer fund off the ground put Kay on a mission. She fought for cancer funding the same way she fought the disease… positive and determined every step of the way.

Kay Yow with Pat Summitt after winning the Jimmy V award in 2007

Kay Yow’s courage, dedication, and example serve as her enduring legacy.  The foundation which now bears her name will continue the struggle to defeat the adversary that took Coach Yow’s life.

Still, women’s basketball has lost a legend and the world has lost a courageous beautiful person.  She will be missed…

Click the logo above to donate to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund (Part of the Jimmy V Foundation)

– So it goes…

Images Courtesy of: UNCG • New York Times / Chris Carlson(AP) • The Kay Yow Cancer Fund / Jimmy V Foundation

After his performance on the court over the past 4 years, I hardly needed anything to make me consider Chris Lofton to be one of the great players to wear the orange and white. The revelations of last week regarding Lofton’s off-the-court struggles, however, only serve to further cement Lofton’s place in Tennessee Volunteers history, and have elevated him to the status of legend.

As you may well know, last week ESPN’s Chris Low reported on Chris Lofton’s battle with his greatest adversary, and all that came along with it. This adversary is not a team, a player, or a coach — it is not the usual opponent for a college basketball player, and in fact has absolutely nothing to do with basketball whatsoever.

The opponent is cancer, and I’m pleased to say that Lofton is undefeated.

It absolutely amazes me that Chris Lofton has spent a year of his life battling cancer and, at the same time, took the court for the BasketVols every night as its most visible leader. While he was wowing Orange Nation with his shooting ability, coolness under fire, and tenacity — away from the court he was dealing with the most intense duel of his life: the fight for his life.

And none of us ever knew anything about it…

I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have the weight of cancer treatment bearing down on you, as you try to go out and play your best at a game which, when compared to a life-or-death struggle, seems so very unimportant. The adversity would have made most people crumble. Had I been in his shoes, I cannot say that I would not have opted to simply “sit this one out” and just try to get by. Lofton, however, didn’t just “get by” during this period, he succeeded, he conquered, he overcame — both on the basketball floor and in his fight against cancer.

I am not going to try and tell the whole story of what Lofton went through, Chris Low does a beautiful job, and I strongly encourage anyone who has not read Low’s story to do so. What I will say is an even more heartfelt thank you than I said to Lofton as he played his last game as a Tennessee Volunteer. The unselfishness he showed this season was always apparent in the way he played the game, but now we all know just how unselfish he truly was. I cannot personally think of a greater sacrifice or more unselfish act by a player at Tennessee. Now, more than ever, I am stuck by the maturity, poise, and integrity that Chris Lofton demonstrates both on the floor and off. I am so very proud that I can say Chris Lofton played for Tennessee.

I also want to give credit to the other members of the basketball squad and the coaching staff for respecting Lofton’s wish that his condition not be publicly released until he was ready to discuss it. In this age of constant media attention — sometimes to a ridiculous degree — it is hard to believe that this story was not plastered all over the internet or elsewhere long before Lofton sat down with Low to tell his story. That is exemplary of the kind of trust usually reserved for family members. That speaks volumes about the character of the leadership within the basketball program.

Furthermore, as Chris Low said while talking to Basilio last week, he learned of Lofton’s condition months before he reported on it last week. I applaud Low for approaching Lofton, asking him about it, and honoring Lofton’s wishes that Low not report the story, unless and until Lofton was ready. That is the mark of a good journalist.

I sincerely hope that Chris Lofton’s bout with cancer is over once and for all. I wish him nothing but the best, and I hope that he gets the chance to excel at the next level — whether that be in the NBA, in business, or in life. Given the kind of person Chris Lofton has shown himself to be, I have a feeling that — no matter what path he follows — he will find success though hard work, integrity and determination.

Bearing all of that in mind, I want to publicly encourage the University of Tennessee to give a little something back to Chris Lofton. In my opinon, it is time for number 5 to go into the rafters, and be retired — for excellence as a basketball player, as a student-athlete, and as a person. I think Chris Lofton has more than earned it.

Thank you, Chris Lofton, for all that you have given to the University of Tennessee, for your example as a rolemodel, and for having the soul of a legend.

You’ve not only thrilled us in basketball, you’ve inspired us as human beings. For that, I am grateful.

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: AP / Rivals.com