The text message to T.Y. Hilton came between his coach’s second and third bouts of spirit-sapping chemotherapy, the sort that kept him in bed 20 hours a day and made menial tasks like brushing his teeth an exhaustive chore. Still, game day was coming. Hilton’s phone buzzed. It was Chuck.
“Remember, stretch and cut. Stretch and cut.”
It was November 2012. Hilton was the Indianapolis Colts’ standout rookie receiver who doubled as a punt returner; Chuck Pagano was six weeks into treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia. He was coaching from the third floor of the IU Simon Cancer Center.