My first reaction was the head, you know, under the dugout.

When the lights went out, I was in the dark.

His story is one of crisis, hope, and inspiration.

I first learned I had cancer when I was in the instructional league in 1974 in October.

And it was just something that had developed in the lymph node in my chest area.

I developed a knot in it and other things I wasn't eating right, and I just didn't feel right, so I just went in and had it checked up.

I was in the hospital for about two weeks after the operation, and from there I went back home to Oklahoma and went to a cancer clinic for a week, stayed there, and then I was an outpatient, and from an outpatient I was taking chemotherapy.

It's humorous now, but at the time it wasn't humorous.