Keith Holcombe’s wiry, brown beard couldn’t hide his smile as he celebrated in the locker room in the Georgia Dome after the University of Alabama’s SEC championship victory over Florida last Saturday. He laughed and traded high-fives with teammates.
After a few minutes, he pulled off his No. 42 jersey. It rolled off of his 6-foot-4, 223-pound frame, revealing a tube attached at one end to the side of his stomach and the other to a black, hard-shelled mechanical device that pumps insulin into his body.
Holcombe was 9 years old when he was diagnosed with diabetes.