Bruce DeHaven: Carolina Panthers Coach Stricken By Terminal Cancer Finds Chance For Redemption In Super Bowl 50


Bruce DeHaven had a choice this offseason, to walk away from the game he loved after being hit with a terminal cancer diagnosis or to play through.

After Carolina Panthers special teams coach was diagnosed with an incurable form of prostate cancer, many expected the 66-year-old to retire to focus on his treatment, but DeHaven had another thought.

“In terms of what is happening to me, if I’ve only got a limited amount of time left, why would I want to spend it feeling sorry for myself?” DeHaven told CBS News in one of the rare interviews about his cancer.

DeHaven said that instead of focusing on his cancer, he just wanted to keep coaching

“In the end, I wanted to coach,” DeHaven said. “I just love coaching. Coaching is teaching. For whatever reason, it’s in my blood. I mean, I’ll probably cry after this ballgame just because we’re not going to have another week of practice.”

Bruce DeHaven has seen his share of Super Bowl heartache. He was the special teams coordinator for the Buffalo Bills when Scott Norwood went wide right in Super Bowl XXV. He was back with the Bills again in 2000, when the Tennessee Titans completed the Music City Miracle and knocked a talented Bills team out of the playoffs.

Bruce DeHaven still has difficult memories of the game-winning kick return.

“Probably the worst moment of my life other than a death in the family,” DeHaven told USA Today. “Why would I ever relive anything that was so traumatic at the time? So I’ve just moved on.”

DeHaven reunited with the biggest star of those Bills games. On Super Bowl weekend he was photographed with Jim Kelly, the former Bills quarterback who twice beat jaw cancer.

In this year’s Super Bowl, Bruce DeHaven has a chance at redemption in an era when special teams mean less than ever. New rules have rendered kickoffs almost entirely useless, and punters are now giving such hangtime that even punt returns are rare.

The results reflected the down year. The Carolina Panthers ranked near the bottom of special teams rankings compiled by the Dallas News, which are considered the standard. The Panthers were ranked as last in kickoff returns, with an average of 18.2 yard per return and also worst with five kicks blocked by opponents.

But that could all change on Sunday with a Super Bowl victory. The Carolina Panthers are favored over the Denver Broncos, though special teams has little to do with it. The Panthers have ridden an aggressive, turnover generating defense and the MVP performance of Cam Newton to a 15-1 record.

With a career full of almosts, Bruce DeHaven said he is relishing his opportunity at Super Bowl 50 and realizing just how lucky he has been to coach in the NFL.

“When Lou Gehrig said, ‘I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world,’ I can understand what he meant,” Bruce said.

“You just have no idea how you’ve touched people sometimes. And if it hadn’t been for this, maybe I would never have known this.”

And with his cancer fight ongoing and his own future uncertain, DeHaven said he is taking advantage of his Super Bowl moment.

“I find myself lingering after practice,” Bruce DeHaven said. “I want to make a little picture in my mind, in case I’m not doing this soon.”

[AP Photo / Mike McCarn]

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