Hey sports fans! It’s another great day at Sports Scene.
Another school year is in the books, and what a year it was!
We saw Ithaca’s 69-game football winning streak come to an end, and Arthur Hill’s miraculous run in the Division 1 boys’ basketball state tournament come up one win short of a championship.
It’s truly the joy of victory and the agony of defeat, but earlier this month we were reminded that sports are just a game, as former Carrollton standout Derrick Nash lost his battle against leukemia.
Nash, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the spring of 2013 as a high school senior after signing a national letter of intent to play college football for Central Michigan University, was hospitalized nearly a month ago and was put on a new ventilator to help him breathe.
A star football player at Carrollton High School, Nash led the state in rushing as a senior with 1,967 yards and 28 touchdowns. After his diagnosis, he recovered in time to play in the 2014 spring game for the Chippewas, but the cancer returned in the fall.
He never played in a live game for the Chippewas, but he made a tremendous impact on the Carrollton and Mount Pleasant communities with his upbeat attitude and by helping build the #NashStrong campaign with blood drives and fundraisers to combat his disease.
Nash always had a smile on his face, even when he wasn’t feeling the greatest. Regardless of the good days or the bad, the constant drive to fight this dreaded disease was there right to the end.
“Derrick fought a great fight, and he will never be forgotten,” CMU head coach John Bonamego said in a written statement. “I know everyone can learn a lot from the way he lived his life and the passion and enthusiasm he showed, even during the tough times.”
I think we all can learn from what Derrick endured. Don’t take anything for granted in life. Live everyday to its fullest. Derrick would have wanted it that way.