Kent Koester

The league gave Alex Singleton a random drug test last year. The kind they use to catch people cheating. It came back with something in him that was not supposed to be there. It was not a drug. It was cancer. Last week, in overtime in Seattle, he was the best player on the field against the team that cut him when he was nobody. Here is the whole thing. The test showed an elevated hormone. He knew immediately it was not something he had taken, because he is careful about that, so he and his wife and his agent sent him to a urologist instead of arguing with anybody. The urologist found signs of a tumor. Denver's team doctor put him under an ultrasound that same day and confirmed it. Now here is the part that tells you who he is. He had already been scheduled to play that week. So he played. All sixty defensive snaps of it. He had the surgery the next day. He missed exactly one game. Here is what he said when he told people about it, and the reason he told them at all. "Thankfully, we believe the cancer was caught early with a great prognosis for me and my family." "If it helps one person decide to pay closer attention to their body, then it is well worth it." "Early detection and regular screenings save lives and can save loved ones from a lot of grief." Now go back to the start. He came out of Montana State and nobody drafted him. Seattle signed him and then cut him, and cut him again, and he spent his first year as a professional getting released over and over by people who had no use for him. So he went to Canada and played three years in the CFL. Here is how he describes those years. "Three amazing years and I learned how to become a pro there." He came back, made a roster in Philadelphia, led that team in tackles, and they would not guarantee him a dollar. He signed with Denver for the minimum. One more thing about him. His older sister Ashley has Down syndrome. She swims and she bowls, and he gave her the football from the first touchdown he ever scored in the National Football League. "I think she's the greatest person in the world." Now the honest part. He is paid well now and he was not in any danger by the time most people heard about it, so this is not a story about a man fighting for his life. Plenty of players have come back from worse. And one linebacker's tackle total does not decide a football game. But a drug test built to catch liars found his cancer instead. He played a full game knowing, had it cut out the next morning, and lost one Sunday. And last week he stood in overtime in Seattle's building and had thirteen tackles.