How Les Miles and a Cancer-Stricken Alabama Teen Transcended an SEC Rivalry

For one day last week in Mountain Brook, Alabama—a town located squarely in the heart of the rivalry between Alabama and Auburn—the city was painted purple and gold in homage to fellow Western Division rival LSU.

Though fans in the southeastern part of the country take their college football rivalries seriously, the town of Mountain Brook came together to support one of its own in hopes of taking a life-threatening experience and turning it into a life-changing one.

For 15-year-old Sid Ortis, a diehard LSU fan who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma—the most common type of bone cancer in children— August, that’s exactly what happened in the moments after he returned home following lung surgery last Thursday.

The Mountain Brook community banded together to litter the area's streets and businesses with purple and gold balloons and ribbons on Sid’s route home from the hospital. However, the teen's biggest surprise came in the form of a phone call from LSU head coach Les Miles.

“We realize that Coach Miles did not have to do that,” Sid’s father, Scott, told Bleacher Report recently. “He doesn’t know us from Adam. They are in the middle of spring practice. I’m sure there are a lot of other things he could be doing. For some reason, our son’s story has touched some folks.”

The call lasted around 10 to 15 minutes, and topics ranged from general life advice to the Tigers' miscues against Alabama last season.

“[Miles] was just really encouraging,” Scott said. “Sid was laying on the couch literally like he was talking to one of his buddies. He was on speakerphone. Coach Miles was talking to Sid as if he was one of his own son’s good friends.”

Scott and his wife, Lynn, are originally from Louisiana, and the family—which includes four more children—has had LSU season tickets for quite some time. The call was a thrill for Sid and the family, especially since it was unexpected.

“He asked if he could pray with Sid and they prayed together. It was very humanizing. All of our friends here, who are Alabama and Auburn fans, they were like, ‘I kind of like that Les Miles guy now.’ ”

Both the LSU and Mountain Brook communities have been supportive of Sid’s fight since the beginning.

According to Scott, Miles learned of Sid’s condition shortly after he was diagnosed back in August of 2014. A few weeks later, Miles sent over a signed picture and a hat.

Scott recently learned the story of how Miles found out about Sid’s condition. The connection came through LSU assistant athletic director Dr. Sam Nader, whose niece lives in the Mountain Brook area. Once she heard about the Ortis family’s plight and their love of LSU football, she alerted her uncle.

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A similar story unfolded when a Facebook post illustrating the town decorated in purple and gold made its way to the LSU football office.

“From what I understand, [Dr. Nader] showed that to Coach Miles and he apparently had tears in his eyes,” Scott said. “We got home Thursday afternoon, and this thing just exploded. We have no idea how they got my wife’s cell phone number, but yesterday afternoon, my wife got a call from his secretary asking if Coach Miles could speak to Sid. This is no fanfare. He just called out of the blue. It’s pretty amazing.”

Even a few former LSU players have reached out to Sid.

Around Christmas, current Tennessee Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger sent him an LSU jersey and a handwritten note offering support. Recently graduated Tigers fullback Connor Neighbors, himself a Huntsville native, got in touch with Sid and the two frequently communicate via text.

For the Ortis family, the support from friends, family and members of the community has been overwhelming.

Mountain Brook is located about an hour away from Alabama’s campus and roughly 90 minutes from Auburn’s.

Scott said it’s not uncommon for his kids to wear LSU gear to school and endure some good-natured heckling from classmates and neighbors.

However, community members organized a mass email to around 200 Mountain Brook residents in order to flood the town with LSU colors for Sid’s trek home from the hospital.

“It’s surreal because it’s always Alabama and Auburn around here,” Scott said. “We were one of the few LSU families here. The businesses here even had those balloons up. When they ran out of balloons, they started getting purple and gold ribbons and putting those on mailboxes. It just snowballed. It was amazing. You just don’t see purple and gold here like that.”

While the Ortis family has welcomed the outpouring of support for Sid, Scott and the family are well aware that Sid still faces a challenging battle with his condition.

He’s already had tumors removed from his leg, and his newest battle is now getting the disease out of his lungs—which is where this form of cancer often spreads.

Sid's recovery period from his most recent surgery ends Friday. Then, he will begin a routine where he goes in for five days of chemo treatments, gets two weeks off and repeats that cycle.

As Carol Robinson of AL.com notes, friends in the Mountain Brook community have set up a foundation called Strike Out Pediatric Cancer that allows supporters to make pledge contributions for every strikeout thrown by Mountain Brook High School pitchers this season.

The last few days have brought a welcome distraction to an ordeal that has been an emotional roller coaster for Sid and his family. 

“It means a lot,” Scott said of the whole experience. “Sid is a 15-year-old kid. So when a major college coach just calls you out of the blue like that, it was humbling to be honest. To have that kind of support from everyone here, just to know that people care that much and that people are interested in reaching out and helping, it was a humbling experience.”

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani