• 12/19/2004
  • Dave Reardon
  • StarBulletin.com

You won’t see that little bulge in any of their chins, that periodic tight spray of spit, that plastic cup that is not for drinking.

The University of Alabama, Birmingham Blazers’ offensive coordinator and former winner of the Heisman Trophy beat the odds and cancer

Some might have the urge sometimes, but none of the UAB football players, coaches or staff would ever have the nerve to dip in front of offensive coordinator Pat Sullivan.

“I don’t think so, not after what he’s been through,” Blazers head coach Watson Brown said.

As far as Sullivan and Brown know, none of the UAB personnel who used smokeless tobacco in the past do anymore, not after what Sullivan went through last year.

“I don’t really know of anybody who does it now,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner as an Auburn quarterback, was diagnosed in August 2003 with squamous cell carcinoma, a form of throat cancer. He underwent surgery the next month to remove three lumps from his neck.

Doctors told him he had a 65 percent to 70 percent chance of surviving. The Birmingham, Ala., hometown hero and former NFL player and TCU head coach simply said he would “whip it.” And that’s what Sullivan did.

“It was awfully, awfully difficult. I had to go through three very strong rounds of chemotherapy and I had 33 or 34 treatments of radiation. I probably lost 60 pounds over the course of the year,” said Sullivan, who is now free of cancer — as well as the smokeless tobacco habit he had coincidentally given up a month before his diagnosis.

Sullivan, 54, spoke yesterday at Aloha Stadium, after the Blazers stretched their legs with a 30-minute workout following a 4,000-mile, overnight trip from Birmingham. UAB is here to play Hawaii (7-5) in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Friday.

He looks healthy and has regained his weight. The stresses of coordinating an offense that generates 386 yards per game doesn’t seem to have affected him. The only allowance Sullivan makes to the excised cancer is an upturned collar.

He has two distinct passions now: Direct UAB’s efforts at moving the football and espouse the danger of tobacco use.

“I chewed smokeless tobacco. And I would highly encourage anybody who’s with it to stay away from it. It’s not worth it,” Sullivan said. “No human being ought to have to go through the treatments I had to. To be where I’m at today I know the good Lord took care of me and my family. I talk to people every day from all over the country who are in various stages. So many of them are not like I am in my recovery. I am very fortunate.”

Sullivan said being around the team last year, even at times when he couldn’t actively coach, was a key to his recovery.