It was the year 2007 when ESPN Sports Anchor, Stuart Scott was first diagnosed with cancer of the appendix. He had the appendix removed at the time, underwent chemo and for a while his cancer was in remission. And yet three more times since then his cancer has returned and each time he has found the strength to fight it and still maintain as much of his life as he can. Today he is facing cancer’s deadly return for the fourth time and while he will not delve into his prognosis if you read between the lines of recent stories the outlook is not good.
But it isn’t Scott’s dire prognosis that has inspired me as I have read his story over the years. It is the undying love he has shown for his two daughters and the way he has held out that his motivation for fighting as hard as he has, for taking over 58 chemo treatments and God knows how many surgeries to extend his time on earth is his love for them. In one article I read he said that what motivates him is each one more thing he can do with them if he wins his next fight. He wants to be there for graduation, to walk them down the aisle, to maybe one day loan them money for their first house.
The love he feels for his daughters is so apparent, is such a motivating factor for him, and is such a beautiful thing to observe in a world where so many fathers don’t seem to care anymore. I find the story of his love for his daughters to be so heartwarming that it almost overshadows the rest of his story.
Stuart Scott, probably as much as anyone since Bill Russell, changed the way mainstream sports coverage is broadcast. After his hiring by ESPN in 1993, he made catch phrases such as Boo Yah, and the cold side of the pillow a part of bringing a bit of a hip hop to mainstream sports. Even as Scott has battled with the various returns of cancer over the last seven years, he has rarely missed time at ESPN, even having days where he takes chemo in the afternoon and still makes the evening broadcast at ESPN. To paraphrase a classic novel – he has been a profile in courage.
I deeply respect him for his professionalism in the face of adversity. I admire the impact he has had on the world of sports broadcasting. But in a world where so often Black male celebrities are documented as having cavalier attitudes towards children from multiple partners, what I really admire about Scott as a father is the way that he has expressed his love for his daughters and the example that he has set that there are Black men who care about their children.
The other thing I have admired about Scott as I have followed this story is that I have never once heard him proclaim oh woe is me, which he surely would be entitled to say. Instead he has talked about all that he has been blessed with, and accepted that the final decision as to how his situation plays out is not his, but in the hands of a greater power. I hope that everyone that reads this story says a little prayer for Stuart Scott and his family.
I also hope that maybe someone will read this story and think about the way Scott feels about his children and be more motivated to reach out and be more of a father to their own. We have all seen stories of men like Dominick Cromartie who doesn’t even know his own children’s name, or even of Adrian Peterson, a football player that I admire as a football player, but who has children by women he barely knew that he rarely spends time with. Too often the mainstream media put these stories out there like they represent all Black men. And while I will be the first to admit that unfortunately these stories do represent the way a lot men feel, I think it is important to remember that a lot of us also think and feel like Stuart Scott as well.
Or at least that’s the way I see it.
