Chuck Pagano, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, may not be the leader this nation needs but he is the one that many people in the country should pay attention to.
Pagano was named the head coach of the Colts in January, replacing the embattled Jim Caldwell. The Colts finished a dismal 2-14 last season after their stud quarterback, Peyton Manning, was out for the entire season with a neck injury. The
Colts canned Caldwell and brought in Pagano, the former defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens.
Pagano’s Colts drafted Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick in the April NFL Draft, in the hopes that Luck could be the next Peyton Manning. The Colts struggled out of the gate and lost two of their first three games. Then, on Sept. 26, things appeared as if bad would turn worse. Pagano was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. Bruce Arians was promoted to head coach in Chuck’s absence.
Pagano spent the next month in an Indianapolis hospital, undergoing chemotherapy, watching the Colts play from his hospital bed. On Oct. 21, Pagano was able to return home, where he watched his team from afar.
Chuck cleared a hurdle last week when he was given clearance by his doctors to return to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to watch his Colts play. After the Colts got a dramatic 23-20 win over the visiting Miami Dolphins, Pagano addressed his team in the locker room. If you haven’t seen the video, I’d recommend it. The footage still sends chills down my spine.
“I’ve got circumstances. You guys understand it. I understand it. It’s already beat. It’s already beat,” said Pagano to his team. “My vision that I’m living is to see two more daughters get married, dance at their weddings and then lift the Lombardi Trophy several times. I’m dancing at two more weddings and we’re hoisting that trophy together, men. Congratulations, I love all of you.”
In the locker room, Pagano lifted his blue baseball hat with the familiar Colts horseshoe on the front to reveal his nearly hairless head as a result of the intense chemotherapy. In a show of support, more than 20 Colts players, including Luck, shaved their heads. The Colts are becoming a family around their head coach and the people are responding. Colts officials hung banners in each end of the stadium to promote the hashtag, #Chuckstrong, and Arians wears a button at every game that has two orange ribbons, the color designated to represent leukemia. Chuck’s strength when staring down a terrible disease like leukemia is one that is admirable, no matter which team you root for.
But the team has also responded in other ways. Since Arians became the coach, the Colts are 5-1 to bring their overall record to 6-3 and the Colts are in the early playoff discussions. The surge is also thanks to the brilliant play of Luck, who threw for a rookie-record 433 yards against the Dolphins.
A day after Pagano’s emotional post-game speech, it was announced that Pagano’s cancer was in remission. He is not cancer free, but the disease is on the run. Pagano has started a second round of chemotherapy and that will last four to six weeks. After the second round, Pagano will face yet another round of chemo after the first of the year.
The story of Pagano’s fight and a team coming together to play for one man is why I love sports. Politics and sports don’t often mix, but I think Chuck’s story speaks to the nation as a whole.
As another presidential election has come and gone, the American people have chosen who they want their leader to be for the next four years. Whether you wanted Barack Obama to continue as president, or you were looking for the fresh face of Mitt Romney in the White House, I’m sure that both sides can agree that the issues and the problems facing this country have divided Americans more than ever before. It could be easy for our leaders to turn away from each other when the other side doesn’t agree. It also could have been easy for Chuck Pagano to give up.
Although we are divided in a deep trench of partisan sentiments, this nation will not turn on itself, particularly when we find something or someone to rally around. We don’t want to be divided anymore. America wants its dream back. Pagano also wants his dream. It is his endless pursuit of that end that leads a group of men and a nation of fans to unite together behind one man’s struggles. This is what we want. Everybody wants to be #Chuckstrong.
