WEST LAFAYETTE ? It?s not an expression that?s used a lot in basketball, yet it makes lots of sense.
On any given basketball team there is a coach who has to be the enforcer. This is the person who has motivate with force, criticize at will, be the enemy and not the friend.
The ?Bad Cop? is how one might describe it. Even with its negative connotations, its a necessary evil when is comes to the makeup of a basketball team.
?As a head coach you?re always the tough guy. You have expectations, you have responsibilities. Your job is to become the bad cop and get the most out of your players,? said Terry Kix inside Mackey Arena in March-and she knows something about that.
She was a field hockey coach at Maine for 15 years, taking over the program after a decorated playing career at Connecticut where she two-time All-American and won a national championship in 1981. With the Black Bears she knew about getting her team ready as Kix won a school-record 174 games and four American East Conference Coach of the Year Awards.
But that changed when Sharon Versyp took over the head women?s basketball coaching job at Purdue in 2007. While organizing her staff, she reached out to Kix for her expertise behind the scenes for the job of Director of Basketball Operations.
?She said ?Listen, I know you want to get more into administration, you?d be perfect for this job,?? said Kix, who accepted the job and a new role that she wasn?t used to.
During a practice before the NCAA Tournament at Mackey Arena, she wasn?t barking out orders or setting up drills. She was clapping, smiling, encouraging the Boilermakers as they would take shots or run sprints.
?That?s it Taylor! That?s it Taylor! Nice move Taylor!? comes out during a lay-up drill.
?Nice, Dee Dee. That?s it KK? comes out a few minutes later, and so on during the two-hour practice session.
?I try to provide a lot of enthusiasm, energy and support, very, very positive all the time,? said Kix. ?Kinda the good cop.?
Versyp, however, would describe here another way.
?She?s the Director of Basketball Operations but she?s the glue to our staff, the glue to our? team, the community, academics, people in the department,? said Versyp-and one that would stick no matter what.
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Unfortunately for KK Houser, a meeting like this has happened before.
In 2010, Versyp held a team meeting before an international trip in the middle of November to tell the players that forward Drey Mingo was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. It was a frightening time considering that the severity of the illness was such that Mingo?s life was endanger for a time let alone her basketball career.
Houser was injured that season but was at full health on November 16th, not long before the team was to depart for a trip to the Virgin Islands. But yet again, Versyp walked into a team meeting with bad news.
?We were in the film room and she said that Terry had been going to appointments, and she?s had stomach problems,? said Houser. ?We knew she hadn?t been feeling well and it came back that she had stomach cancer.?
Kix was told that not long before the team found out, answering a four-month question about why the coach was suffering with stomach pain. Underneath a bleeding ulcer in her stomach was a five-inch cancerous tumor.
?I had just come back from Italy in May so I thought it was the different foods and the different wines and through maybe that?s why my stomach was bothering me,? said Kix. ?But over time it kept persisting and didn?t die down so I had it checked.
?It was so shocking for me because I had just completed a half marathon three weeks prior to the diagnosis so even though I was having some pains in my stomach I didn?t feel all that bad. But everything happened so fast and the doctors were all so wonderful, they moved me so quickly.?
The news didn?t digest so fast with the Boilermakers, especially Houser. The guard would often sit on the bench next Kix when she would come out of the games for breathers sharing encouragement along with information to use when Houser would get back in.
?I?m pretty sure I probably started crying right away,? said Houser when she heard of the diagnosis. ?I?m very close to Terry, she?s my little side buddy on the bench when I come out so I was very upset and worried for her at the time.?
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As she reflected in her office on the 2012-2013 season, Versyp referred to it as ?journey.?
Indeed it was.
Between the diagnosis on November 16th and the Boilermakers first round tournament games in Louisville, Kix had six chemotherapy treatments to treat the stomach cancer. Each time she would take about five days to recover than make her way back to the office and the floor to continue her work.
?Part days, half days, be at home games. Couldn?t travel,? said Versyp of Kix?s chemotherapy treatments. ?So that?s kinda been the journey the whole time.?
A change of pace it was for the Boilermakers? ?Good Cop?, but there could be no change of enthusiasm in her mind. With Purdue a Top 25 team in the rankings, Kix paid close attention to how she conducted herself around the
?They?ve all gone through adversity, this is another level of adversity but no matter what your challenge is you have to be positive and put your best foot forward,? said Kix of her attitude during treatments. ?I tried really hard not to let my personal illness affect the team, affect the young ladies but obviously the care about me and I care about them.
?I just tried to inspire them and they inspire me.?
Her ability to do that as, in Versyp?s words ?The Glue?, would depend on her being able to conduct her business as she had before the diagnosis and chemotherapy treatments. That was difficult considering that she would have to be in-and-out of the office during the treatment, causing concern for players so used to having her around.
?I think the hardest part is when we?d seen her a couple of days prior when she had hair and then she came back and she?d had shaved her head because her hair started to fall out so probably the hardest part,? said Houser. ?It?s hard not seeing her because we?re used to seeing her everyday.?
But it was her attitude when she was there that helped to bridge the gap. The vocal Kix kept her trademark enthusiasm even as her treatments took away her weight an hair. With a collection of hats to wear during practice and games, the coach was there as the Boilermakers finished 25-9 and finished in a tie for third in the Big Ten.
?She?s such a fireball. Even going through all her chemo and all of that cancer has not put her back one step at all,? said Houser of Kix. ?Still yells at the refs, still is our biggest fan and is still up yelling and cheering.
?You wouldn?t know she has cancer unless you see her cute bald head. She still on her good days is still running miles on her treadmill, she?s peppy, she?s always talking. She is the cutest little cancer patient ever, she always has the cutest little head scarves and hats so Terry?s a great person, she?s a big part of our family and our team and she is going to beat this cancer.?
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Finding inspiration during the last four months has come from all sorts of places for Kix. So far, most of it has found the basement of her Lafayette-area home.
?I?ve been keeping an inspirational wall in my basement and I?ve received over 500 letters from people from around the country and former players,? said Kix-including from a fellow cancer patient who captured the attention of the nation a few months earlier.
Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with Leukemia back in October and heard about Kix?s story. He like others sent a letter to the coach expressing well wishes and, of course, ended up on the wall.
?It warmed my heart, a very classy man and he just shared his heartfelt emotion of what he went through and his experience and tried to provide me a lot of courage and motivation to get through my situation,? said Kix of Pagano?s letter. ?His letter was inspiring. Very sensitive and compassionate and it meant a lot to me because it has been someone whose been through it and understands it.?
The Purdue women?s basketball team reached out more on a daily basis. They offered support vocally many times during the season and even knitted a quilt with inspirational sayings which was given to Kix as her treatments continued.
?The basketball season really has made it easy for me because it?s kept me busy and there?s been an army of support between the community and the team and my family and it?s been amazing,? said Kix of the support. ?So a lot of positive has come out of it and now I just want this cancer out of my stomach.?
Perhaps that will be April 11th. That is the day that Kix is scheduled to have the tumor removed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York if an April 8th test shows the cancer has not spread. Those who will treat her, says Kix, are a group of people whom she has gained great admiration for over the time of her treatments.
?I?ve met a lot of amazing people along my journey and so many people are so brave and have so much courage and this will change me forever and I will never sweat the small stuff,? said Kix.
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In a year where things were not on her schedule, timing worked to her favor early in March.
Following a fifth chemotherapy treatment, the chance came for Kix to finally travel on the road for the team?s Big Ten Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.-a suburb of Chicago.
?I was very blessed and fortunate because Coach Versyp gave me the opportunity to give the pre-game speech for that which really was very special to me and very emotional,? said Kix. ?I shared with the young ladies what it would be like to be a champion and ?The ring was the thing.??
Words that would end up proving to be significant. Purdue won their first game at the Sears Centre by eight points over Wisconsin, then followed that up with a 13-victory over Nebraska. On Sunday the Boilermakers dominated Michigan State, this time by 15 points, to bring home their second conference tournament championship in as many seasons.
?We were fighting and Terry was still fighting a battle so we fought hard for her,? said Houser of the Big Ten Tournament victories. ?We were glad that she was right there with us?
She was right there cutting down the nets and taking pictures with the team in a moment that was four months in the making.
?All the 6 AM practices, all the hard work. They put in so much time and effort and commitment into this and to see their smiling faces and to see them in ecstasy will be something that I will remember forever,? said Kix.
It was her presence-just like all season-that produced the greatest memories for those around her.
?It was amazing. It?s difficult when she?s not around,? said Versyp. ?The kids are always wondering ?Is she ok? Is she not OK? when she?s not on the bench, when she?s not at practice. So to be able to have her at the end being part of the family that we have here, being on the sidelines.
?She?s just that glue.?
Source: http://fox59.com/2013/04/01/purdues-terry-kix-keeps-things-together-even-with-cancer/
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