“When you die, you do not lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and the manner in which you live.”
There are times when a man or woman transcends what it means to be a sports fan. Sure, we root for specific teams, whether it be the Mets, Yankees, Jets, Giants, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Knicks or Nets, but at the end of the day, it’s just a game.
We wake up every morning, and most of us just need to roll 0ver and look at our phones to know everything they need to know about the world of sports.
It wasn’t always that way, though, especially in 1993, when I was six years old and Stuart Scott joined ESPN2 as the host of SportsNight. Later, he would become a sports icon due to his prominence on ESPN’s SportsCenter and other sports platforms as well.
Scott had an emergency appendectomy in Pittsburgh after becoming ill while covering the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Miami Dolphins game on Nov. 26, 2007. The surgeons discovered a malignancy that required an additional surgery to remove possibly cancerous tissue. He returned a month later and continued on-air broadcasting during recommended preventive chemotherapy.
The cancer returned in 2010. Scott went into remission in early 2012, but he was again diagnosed with cancer on Jan. 14, 2013.
Scott was honored at the ESPYS on July 16, 2014, with the Jimmy V Award for his ongoing fight against cancer. Unfortunately, it was reported this morning, Jan. 4, 2015, that Stuart Scott was dead at the age of 49.
“When you die, you do not lose to cancer,” Scott sad at the ESPYS. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and the manner in which you live.”
Scott lived his life to the fullest. He did it for his daughters, Taelor and Sydni, who I will be keeping in my prayers tonight. Rest in peace Stuart. Thanks for your contributions to sports. You’re a model man, father, teacher and historian, and your example will be followed forever. Thank you.
I don’t feel qualified to close this discussion, so I will leave you with the words from his good friend and former partner Rich Eisen.
