Metaphors are brilliant devices.
They can offer context and beauty in the same instant; making events that pass in fleeting moments seem legendary in and of themselves. Sometimes though, plain language tells a more appropriate story. Some will claim the pageantry fades, but others will recognize the facts as grand in their own right.
When Nevada running back Luke Lippincott tore his anterior cruciate ligament in September of last year, he had no idea that would be the beginning, the middle and somehow the end of his story all at once.
It was the beginning because it meant rehab, lots of it. After being granted a sixth season due to medical hardship, Lippincott realized he might have the chance to close out a memorable career in style.
While he sat on a training table his father Brian, a psychologist in their hometown of Salinas Calif., attempted to offer some consolation.
“We both talked about me getting back onto the field,” Luke Lippincott said. “I said well, at least I get to play against Notre Dame now right.”
Brian nodded in approval, echoing the only positive sentiment either could find. At that moment neither man knew how tightly they would be wound over the coming months and frankly, if you told them, they might not have believed it. Two weeks later, Brian Lippincott was diagnosed with cancer.
It was the middle because of the illness, and the fact that this family was forced to continue to fight it. In a highly publicized battle with the disease two years ago, Linda Lippincott, wife and mother to these men, lost her life. Instead of turning inward, the Lippincott’s turned to each other.
In a twist of fate, fitness became a welcome distraction, and a mechanism for healing in more ways than one.
“Luke taught me about lifting weights,” Brian Lippincott said. “Keeping an exercise routine and eating well really helped me to survive.”
In this case the son teaching the father is perfectly sensible. As a Division I athlete, lifting weights and eating well are forces of habit. But what could the father teach the son about rehabilitation of a torn ligament in his knee? As it turns out, more than a psychologist might.
“Every time I would get in the pool to run, I’d see my dad sitting and watching,” Lippincott said. “As I would start to run, I would look over again and see him on the exercise bike, doing everything he could.”
The father’s message was clear, I’m here for you son, and I’m here for me too. With the commitment to regaining their health in full swing, challenges arose that made the journey more difficult. Forget the monotonous nature of rehab and chemotherapy, and include the logistics of it.
Brian Lippincott made the five-and-a-half-hour drive from Salinas to Reno countless times to work out with his son, and Luke made the trip home whenever his schedule would allow it.
“He came up every week,” Luke Lippincott said. “Every week.”
In the end, Brian Lippincott helped his son realize nothing was beyond the will of a person with something to fight for. With a little direction as to the tools of the fitness trade from his son, Brian Lippincott became a Cancer survivor.
It was the end only because it marked Luke Lippincott’s final season as a member of the Nevada Wolf Pack, one way or another. On senior day against Fresno State Saturday, Lippincott and his reconstructed knee ran all over the Bulldogs. He had 10 carries for 143 yards and a team-high three touchdowns in a 52-14 rout, a fitting way to leave Mackay Stadium.
One man returned triumphant to his family. His son returned to his home away from home, to the field that embraced him as a Nevada athlete.
The world would have been worse off without either occurrence.
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