Sign In Using Facebook  |  Sign In  |  Sign Up

NBA Players Save Coach's Life

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Thursday March 17 2011
Text Size - A +

All we ever hear about these days are the examples of bad behavior by professional athletes.  I am just as guilty of shining a light on the many misdeeds of athletes as anyone.  So, I am happy to report to you that not all athletes are bad.  Some of them are actually damn fine human beings.

NBA players Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman, Marko Jaric and Elton Brand all did something so completely selfless that I have to rethink my opinion that all professional athletes are arrogant jerks and criminals.

All were members of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers seven years ago when assistant coach Kim Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  His doctor told him the cancer was slow growing and he could wait a few months for the surgery.  The problem was that the Clippers were about to go to training camp and Hughes wanted to get the surgery done immediately.  "My doctor told me he would do the surgery in a couple of months and then I'd be off my feet for a couple of months (recovering)," Hughes said.

Hughes confided in Mike Dunleavy, who was the head coach of the Clippers at the time.  Dunleavy suggested that he get a second opinion, which he did.  It's a good thing he did.

After a biopsy revealed that the prostate cancer was much worse than believed and was on the brink of spreading to other areas of his body, the decision was made to have surgery immediately.  That's when Hughes got the shock of his life.

"I contacted the Clippers about medical coverage and they said the surgery wouldn't be covered," Hughes said.  "I said 'Are you kidding me?' And they said if they did it for one person, they'd have to do it for everybody else."

Now before you think that I'm making that up, you have to consider who owns the Clippers.  That would be one Donald Sterling.  Otherwise known as the worst owner in the history of professional sports.   Say what you want about any other owner, but they don't even compare to Sterling.  Look, I hate the cheap bastards who own and run my Philadelphia Eagles, but even they wouldn't deny coverage for a coach who had to have surgery for cancer.  (Side note: Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie once fired a woman who had cancer and fired a disable ticket taker at the stadium, so he's no picnic either)

Sterling has a history of bad behavior and he is currently being sued by NBA Hall of Famer, Elgin Baylor, who was employed by the team for 22 years.  Baylor is suing for wrongful termination on the grounds of age and racial discrimination.  Sterling even heckled one of his own players from his court-side seats on several occasions this season.  It got so bad the team ended up trading that player, Baron Davis, at the trade deadline.  I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Sterling wouldn't pay for life-saving surgery for one of his own coaches.  Sterling is certainly one of the bad guys.

But Maggette, Kaman, Jaric and Brand are definitely a shining example of everything that is good in the world of sports.  When they heard that their owner refused to pay for Hughes' surgery, they stepped up.  The four players chipped in and paid for the life-saving surgery for their coach.

"Kim was one of our coaches and he's a really good friend of mine, too," Maggette said.  "He was in a situation where the Clippers' medical coverage wouldn't cover his surgery.  I thought it was a great opportunity to help someone in need.  It shows your humanity, that you care for other people and not just yourself."  How very un-pro athlete of these guys, wouldn't you say?

"Kim was in a life-and-death situation," Maggette said.  He wasn't even exaggerating either.  If Hughes had delayed the surgery or if the four players hadn't stepped up to pay for the surgery, he may have died.  "Those guys saved my life," Hughes said.  "They paid the whole medical bill.  It was like $70,000 or more.  It wasn't cheap."

Even though $70,000 isn't a huge amount when divided four ways by guys who makes millions each year, it was the thought that counts.  And Hughes knows that.  "It showed what classy people they are," Hughes said, without adding the obvious point about how it proved how classless Sterling is.    

"They didn't even want me talking about it; they didn't want the recognition because they simply felt it was the right thing to do," Hughes said.  Yes, it was the right thing to do, but far too often we don't hear the good that athletes do.

The truth is that good deeds don't generate buzz, sell magazines and newspapers, or generate web hits the way that the negative actions of famous people do.  We know all about the bad human beings in pro sports like Albert Haynesworth, Randy Moss, Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, Mike Tyson, Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin, Dennis Rodman, O.J. Simpson, Plaxico Burress, Lawrence Taylor, Rae Carruth, Pete Rose and Adam "Pacman" Jones.  And those were just the names I came up with off the top of my head.  The sad part of it is that I couldn't name that many athletes who have done good things like Maggette, Kaman, Jaric and Brand did.  

Yes, I realize the irony of writing a piece like this when I am constantly pointing out the bad in professional athletes.  Think of this as my penance.  You know, without any little-boy-touching priests getting involved.

Maybe I'm wrong to paint all athletes with the same brush because of the despicable acts of a few bad apples.  Even if those bad apples are rotten to the core.  "Cory is perceived by some people as not being a good person because he seems aloof and arrogant," Hughes said almost pointing a finger at yours truly.  "But they don't know him.  He's a good man; he's a great man."  Well, yes.  Yes he is Kim.  They all are, and there are more like them in professional sports.  We just don't hear about them often enough.

"You can have all the money, all the success, all that stuff, all those so-called important things in life, but in the end, you're judged by what you did for your fellow man," Hughes said.  "Corey, Chris, Marko and Elton will always be an important part of my life.  What those guys did for me put things in perspective."  

Not just for you Kim.  It should put things in perspective for all of us.  Especially other professional athletes.  Me?  I'm just happy to be able to report some good news involving professional athletes for a change.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled TMZ news cycle, filled with athletes behaving badly.  How sad.


Tags:  



Recent Clippers Articles






Leave a comment

Name *
Email *
Website

Create date
— :

Article

Sport

City

Team

Photo

X

Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login

Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!



Click here to browse




2 comments


0 up down 0
B-DubB-Dub, about 1 year ago said:

I couldn't go an ENTIRE article without ripping somebody Chriso. And we had trouble getting people to pay attention all year last year in fantasy baseball. And now most of those writers are gone so I don't have any way to get in touch with them. I think all my negativity scared them off.

1 up down 0
ChrisoChriso, about 1 year ago said:

Really good article B-Dub, I thought it was great. Could have done without the priest bashing, but it was still good. Hey, are we doing fantasy baseball this year?