The 2008 season saw Chris Lofton's scoring and shooting percentages go down. Sports writers and Tennessee fans were wondering what had happened to the reigning SEC player of the year.
Had he stopped working hard? Was he showing his inability to play defense, dribble, and overall lack of quickness as college coaches had been telling him since high school?
Nope.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer just a few days after the Vols loss to Ohio State in last year's Sweet 16. The cancer was found because of a random NCAA mandated drug test.
There were rumors last year that Lofton had failed a drug test. He did, but it may have saved his life.
"I think it probably was a miracle because we don't do any test here [at Tennessee] that would ever check that," said head Tennessee basketball trainer Chad Newman. My proverbial hat is off to Chris Lofton.
The most impressive part of the story is Lofton's refusal to use his cancer as an excuse. Most people would have folded under the criticism he was receiving, especially at the beginning of the year, and made a spectacle of the situation.
Not Chris Lofton.
I do not like Tennessee, but I can now say that I will be 100% behind Chris Lofton from here on out, whether he makes it in the NBA or not.
Way to go Chris, you are a role model to us all.
Picture courtesy of The New York Post.
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