Butch Davis - "Keeping an Aggressive Offense"

Butch Davis, Chapel Hill, NC

When Butch Davis was selected as UNC’s head football coach, he had no idea that he would end up working with another UNC team – one composed of oncologists. Within 200 feet of Davis’s office and Kenan Stadium, Lineberger oncologist Dr. Tom Shea had a special team, an aggressive offense against an opponent called Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

A few months after Davis began the process of revamping UNC’s football team his dentist found a small spot on his gum and sent it to be biopsied. Not thinking twice about it, Davis continued creating plans for his first season.  “A few weeks later, we received the call that I had cancer, and we just couldn’t believe it” Davis said. Unfortunately, there was more bad news a few months later when two of Tammy’s brothers were diagnosed with cancer, within twelve hours of each other.  One has since passed away.

Davis believes the factors that made a dramatic difference in his treatment for cancer were early detection, aggressive therapy, a great medical team, and strong faith.

“Everybody just jumped in to analyze the situation and create a plan. When you have something like that hit you so unexpectedly and you don’t know what to do, it is certainly comforting to have tremendous confidence in the people around you,” Davis said.

Shea had pointed out the parallel between Davis coaching a UNC sport team while working with a team of oncologists to beat the cancer.  “I’ve been very fortunate to be associated with some great teams and I saw in Dr. Shea’s team a group of unselfish individuals who worked collaboratively with great dedication to make their game plan work,” Davis said. 

Davis said that knowing the doctors would make the best possible decisions to cure his cancer built confidence and gave him the opportunity to build a championship football program at the University of North Carolina.  He knows that this special team of UNC oncologists will always be standing by his side.