The Comeback Story of Cuonzo Martin
by Mark Adams, ESPN Analyst
It was 3:00PM CST and Cuonzo Martin was ready to prepare his Missouri State basketball team for a BracketBusters matchup with Nevada the following day. Martin strode into the state of the art JQH Arena as balls and players bounced around the court ready for another day of preparation for another opponent while playing the game that they all love.
For me, this was also just another day in the long parade of games that come faster and more furious in February. It was just another day to prepare for what I love to do...call college basketball games on ESPN2 on Saturday afternoons in February and March.
It was just another day until Cuonzo Martin sat down with me and made it a special day!
Cuonzo Martin was a great player for Gene Keady at Purdue. Keady taught him, "How to play with emotion without being emotional." Martin sees Keady as a father figure, mentor, coaching advisor and trusted professional and personal ally.
In Cuonzo Martin's senior season at Purdue he averaged 18.4 points per game, 46.9% from 3pt range which was #1 in the Big 10 and shot 79.9% from the free throw line. He went on to play professional basketball for four years, including two stops with the Milwaukee Bucks and one with the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA. After playing overseas Martin came home and then spent eight seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach at Purdue (2000-08) under Coach Keady.
Those are the numbers, the facts, the career highlights but fall far short from telling the entire story.
Counzo Martin lost weight at an alarming rate while he was playing professionally in Italy. He had trouble breathing and after several exams he was told that he had bronchitis and was required to return home immediately.
Upon his return Martin met with a US doctor. The doctor in a business-like, matter of fact tone told Martin that he had cancer, "life threatening cancer." At 26 years old and in the prime of his life, Cuonzo Martin who grew up in the middle of the societal cancers of East St. Louis now faced Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The tumor was located between his heart and lungs and it was an aggressive and growing mass.
He was treated with the most advanced and most volatile treatments available at that time. The chemotherapy left him near death. He could barely move and his will to live was reduced to one prayer, "God, please let me live long enough to see my 4 month old son turn 18 years old."
That was the prayer of a dying man who had only one option, trust that God might listen and give him one last chance to make a difference for his son, Joshua. God listened and today just before practice I watched Cuonzo Martin with emotion filled eyes and slightly trembling hands describe the horror he once faced one day at a time.
He never said the word, 'Cancer' as we spoke. He can't say it because he hates it in a deep and personal way. He watched other patients die along the timeline to his own personal path to recovery. He has not forgotten them and he works today through multiple organizations to help find a cure.
As practice began Martin was stoic but focused. At Missouri State there are no excuses. Martin's mother taught him that, "No one wants to hear someone else's excuses!"
With 6:32 to go and Martin's Missouri State Bears behind 55-45 to the Nevada Wolf Pack the game seemed all but over. At that point in the game I looked across the court and saw a man who is emotional without showing emotion and a man who doesn't make excuses. I saw a man who still had a prayer and so did his team.
Missouri State went on a 17-5 game winning run. I watched Cuonzo Martin pump his fist at the closing buzzer. It wasn't demonstrative but it was emotional without showing emotion. He did it again as he walked off the court never raising his head.
This was just another day in the life of a man who now lives to help others and now lives 12 years after he made that request of God. Joshua is 12 years old now and day by day father and son cherish these special days.
There is no such thing as just another day for Cuonzo Martin and his greatest gift is that he is sharing those days with people like me and you!
