OT: Former Butler University player Andrew Smith passes away after battle with cancer
I am a Butler graduate, and I know I'm not alone on the board. So, I figured I would share this sad news. Yesterday, after a two year battle with Lymphoma and later Leukemia, Andrew Smith passed away at the age of 25.
Andrew was the only member of the 2009 recruiting class (same year I entered) from nearby Zionsville, IN. His freshman year he played sparingly behind more experienced bigs Matt Howard and Avery Jukes, but did play some very important spot minutes in Butler's historic run to the national title game. The following year he absorbed most of Jukes' minutes and became a regular rotation player. He was one of the central pieces on the team that made their second consecutive national title game.
As an upper classman he came into his own as a player. He was able to kick his stone hands and developed both a nice post-up arsenal and a 3-point shot. Maybe his finest game as a Bulldog came against IU in the 2012 Crossroads Classic. In that game, Andrew scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting, snared 9 rebounds, blocked two shots, and added a steal. He did all that while ably guarding Cody Zeller on the other end. It is a testament to Brad Stevens' trust in Andrew that for the final play of the season against Marquette, it was Smith, not Rotnei Clarke who took the shot.
He went on to play in the 2013 summer league, and then professionally in Lithuania. In his first season he began losign his ability to to do just about anything physical, and flew back to the states where he was diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife Samantha have been courageous and unrelenting in their battle, and have done a great job raising awareness and getting people register for bone marrow transplants. Sadly, after all the fighting and perseverance the disease was just too much and Andrew passed away peacefully.
I have many fond basketball memories from my time at Butler, and Andrew Smith was part of many of them. I know on Saturday, I'll have a cold one and celebrate his memory by watching Butler play.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^
Cancer is such a fucking bitch. My dad (thus far) has defeated bladder cancer and my mom just told me that she has a very small amount of skin cancer, but it seems she will be fine, as her doctor said what she has is 99% beatable.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
January 13th, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
January 13th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
Thoughts are with you. My wife is a breast cancer survivor and so I have an idea what you are experiencing. Fucking disease is insideous. One of the worst things about our ordeal is the time my teenage son asked me if his mom was going to die...and while I put on the brave face and told him that she would beat this thing, deep down I knew I might be lying my ass off to him. So far she is keeping my answer an honest one, but the idea of the disease returning is there every day. Keep fighting!!
January 13th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^
January 13th, 2016 at 2:02 PM ^
Prayers to CW and you. We were fortunate to catch my wife's breast cancer very early on and took serious action, if you know what I mean, and she is cancer free for the last 5+ years and you could never tell anything happened - we are grateful.
And please to all the men, and women, on this blog, please make sure the women in your lives take care of themselves and do the appropriate screenings and checkups regularly.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:22 PM ^
Is too young to be taken by cancer. Hoping his family can find peace and remember all the good memories of Andrew. RIP, buddy.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^
It's wild to see guys younger than me dying of cancer (and I'm not even in my 30's yet)
January 13th, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^
I've got it (diagnosed at age 51) although mine is currently in remission. My sister has stage 4 stomach cancer and was given 3-6 months to live last October. She's being treated with chemo at University of Michigan (lives in Dexter) and her last report this past Friday said that her cancer had improved greatly and they were extending her expected life but not sure for how long.
Every day is a gift.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
Damn, mate. I'm sorry to hear that. I cannot even imagine how I would feel if a doctor came to me and said, "you have three to six months left to live." Like....fuck. I know I'm going to die some day, but want it to be unexpected. I don't know how I could live knowing when I will die (approximately in this case, of course).
Cancer was never in my family (at least that I know of), but suddenly both parents get it. Now as I stated, my dad thus far has defeated his bladder cancer (he was stage one) and my mom is having a procedure done sometime in early February to get the very small (and I mean small, like it looks like a small and dying pimple) amount of cancer removed from the tip of her nose.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^
Don't watch the Brad Stevens interview. Just too damn sad. Death scares me. When my Grandma lived to the equivalent of 100 human years she still didn't want to die in the end. She lived healthily up until 100 and still didnt want to leave. I can't imagine going through it as a younger person. I wish there was something that would make me feel better about the harsh reality of death. It seems we can only hope to avoid it for as long as possible and numb our mind to it until its time to face it head on.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^
Brad's interview left me in tears. He's always been such a serious, but jovial guy. He really cares a lot about his players, and that group at Butler in particular was really special. It had a family vibe and you can hear in his voice how hard this all was for him. Stevens and Ron Nored, who was the PG on those teams, both got to visit Andrew before he passed and I'm sure that was special and important for the whole family.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
Death scares me, too. Not to start a religious argument/debate, but I don't believe in a deity and afterlife. I have my time on Earth and then when I die, that's it. That really scares me, but also why we appreciate every day given to us.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
return to the same void from which we came. Do not fear an unconscious state, you were already in that form for billions of years and shall return to that form into infinity.
"You" will always exist as some matter or force, just as before, forever, but in other forms.
The beauty of it...before you are born, you don't know, and once you die, you no longer no....so why worry now?
January 13th, 2016 at 1:00 PM ^
I get what you're saying and it makes sense on one level. However even though you believe that, I'm guessing if someone had a gun pointed to your head and wanted to pull the trigger like it was an itch on their foot you would be worrying quite a bit. I think we (humans and rare koalas) are biologically programed to fear death even if we can logically explain why we shoudln't be worried about it in a way that makes %100 sense like you just did.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
Yea I feel you on the religious thing. I can only be sure that I don't know. There certainly could be an afterlife. It's also more than possible that there isn't. There really isn't clad iron proof of either. I suppose if you go with the null hypothesis that there is no afterlife and you have the burden of proving that there is . . . there probably isnt a lot of compelling empiracal evidence. Eventually when I think along these linds I start pondering questions about the universe and it goes on and on. It's a huge mindfuck indeed. It's hard to live every day like it's your last. Life is short, but it's also the longest thing you'll ever do.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
This hurts.
January 13th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
January 13th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
My sister and brother-in-law are Butler grads. Big Butler fan myself. RIP Andrew. Far too young.
January 13th, 2016 at 1:35 PM ^