This one is a heart wrenching story to tell but one that needs to be told. John Padgett was an elementary school football coach. Padgett was suffering from cancer after a tumor grabbed hold of his lymph system. It started as lymphoma and doctors thought he had beaten it after removing part of one of his lungs last year but discovered a tumor in his lungs where it had spread. This was April when he was given months to live. chose to coach his 18 kids to the fifth and sixth grade championship game. Padgett was on the sideline for the championship game, four days before finally succumbing to his illness. Padgett won his Washington Township Football League Championship.
Padgett couldn’t make it to the celebration for the championship, as he was slipping away but his kids brought the celebration to him.
Nine hours before he died, 18 fifth- and sixth-graders filed through Padgett’s front door, into the living room where he lay in a hospital bed, and said goodbye to Coach. He wasn’t talking anymore, wasn’t even opening his eyes, but he knew they were there. Assistant coach Mark Zinn is sure of that, because when Zinn grabbed his hand and told John Padgett he was an amazing man, Zinn felt that hand squeezing his own.
Cancer is real and something most of us have seen. We need to share these stories and continue to push for a cure. John Padgett was beloved in his town and by his kids. At least he was able to share the field with his team one last time and share in the win with them. Padgett was 48 and left behind a wife and an adopted son.