COURTESY OF UAB UAB assistant Pat Sullivan's dipping days are behind him.

Sullivan’s fight
an inspiration
to UAB

The Blazers’ offensive coordinator
and former winner of the Heisman
Trophy beat the odds and cancer

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.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Who: UAB (7-4) vs. Hawaii (7-5) Where: Aloha Stadium When: Friday, 2 p.m. Tickets: $15 to $40 TV: Live, ESPN Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM Internet: kkea1420am.com

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.

COURTESY OF UAB Pat Sullivan now encourages others to stay away from smokeless tobacco. "It's not worth it," he says.

"Coach Brown and the other coaches were wonderful in the way they treated me and let me come and go as I was able. I've grown immensely as far as my strength, through seeing these kids experience success," Sullivan said.

Quarterback Darrell Hackney said Sullivan's illness was part of the reason the Blazers went 5-7 in 2003 -- and his healthy return a big factor in them finishing 7-4 with their first bowl bid this season.

"We were told about it after we lost a game. So it was kind of a double shock for us, that he couldn't be out there with us when we needed him," Hackney said. "We had other coaches, but it didn't feel the same. Everything changed, and when he came back, everything came back to normal. He's the one who made practice go for the offense."

Even before Sullivan's recovery from cancer, he was Hackney's mentor.

"He's an inspiration, he's my motivation. He's the person who keeps me going. We've created a bond in the years I've been at UAB and it's been exciting, to be coached by a Heisman Trophy winner," Hackney said.

Brown said Sullivan's quiet dignity and grit through his ordeal will stay with the Blazers players through their lives.

"He taught these kids more in that one year than I did in the five years I've had the seniors. His toughness, his faith, his positiveness through it, and now to be cancer-free today, it's just a miracle. But it was a process. A hard, hard year.

"When their backs are up against the wall, they'll think of him," Brown said. "They'll learn from that."