By: Austin Ford, Class of 2014
“You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”
No words greater represent the late Stuart Scott than these, spoken by Scott himself at the 2014 ESPY Awards after receiving the Jimmy V Award for his courageous fight with cancer.
His death on Jan. 4 as a result of the disease was not an admission of defeat, but the end of a third bout with an all too familiar foe. Scott beat cancer day in and day out through the zeal he carried for life and the never-quit mentality he carried until his final days.
As a junior at High Point University, I was given the opportunity to experience Scott’s zeal and energy first-hand. It happened during an October 2012 radio interview on HPUR the Sound, the student-run radio station. I, along with my co-host and classmate Kevin Russell, talked for nearly 30 minutes with the ESPN legend about the NFL and his battle with cancer. He shared advice for those aspiring to join the sports journalism and broadcast industry. He answered every question with the same sort of respect and dignity that he would have carried if he were talking to a top radio personality or other esteemed interviewer.
That interview experience has left a lasting impression on my life. Two years later, it serves as a constant reminder to treat others with the same respect that I would wish for an individual to show me. Through my sports broadcasting work with the Charlotte 49ers and with Coaches Aid, Inc., I show the same respect to athletes, coaches and viewers that Scott conveyed to me. I commit to creating a professional-grade broadcast each time I put on a headset.
Scott’s recent passing struck a nerve in me and brought my world to a halt. If there was going to be an individual who would beat cancer three times, who would serve as the rallying cry for all of those afflicted with the disease, Scott was going to be that man…and yet even he succumbed.
But when I think about Scott I do not reminisce on a man who was beaten by cancer; rather, I remember a man who never backed down.
What I took away from my interview with Scott was to not allow trials and tribulations to dictate my life. We all fight our own battles. When I face struggles, I think to how Scott lived – how he would go through chemotherapy in the morning and conduct an intense workout in the afternoon, all the while working events such as Monday Night Football and the NBA Finals – and I am motivated to overcome whatever obstacle I face.
As I move forward in the sports broadcasting industry, I know my path won’t always be easy. Still, I feel prepared. It was Scott who told me to have “thick skin” if I wanted to achieve my goals in sports journalism. I look to his life as a living testament to be thick skinned in all that I do. I will never let a stumbling block stop me from reaching for the next stepping stone.
The opportunity HPU gave me to interview Stuart Scott helped prepare me not only for a life of success, but also for a life of significance. I count my blessings each and every day for having shared a brief moment in time with a man who fought…and fought like hell.