OT-The story of former Butler Bulldog Andrew Smith

Submitted by pdgoblue25 on

I diligently used site search, and I didn't see this posted anywhere.  If it has been posted in the last few days I apologize.

If you are at work, I would recommend reading this story on your lunch break.  I'm not ashamed to admit I had to put the "Closed" sign up at my office for 10 minutes to pull myself back together.

 

 http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/feature/25100916/a-bulldogs-battle

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ButlerGoBlue

March 13th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^

I went to Butler for 6 years from 2008-2014 and had the pleasure of interacting with Andrew many times. He is such a genuinely great guy and he definitely is loved by the Butler community

Joined: 05/07/2011

MGoPoints: 1067

IndyBlue90

March 13th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^

I didn't know Andrew, even though we were part of the same freshman class. He was one of Brad Stevens' great successes. When he first showed up that guy could barely catch the basketball, and even when he did, he often turned it over. By the end of his career he was one of the most important guys on the team, and like Jordan Morgan, shut down many of the highly rated guys he went against (Cody Zeller, Kelly Olynyk, etc.)

I'm certainly hoping for the best. He's done pretty phenomenally considering the tough circumstances.

Joined: 05/07/2011

MGoPoints: 1752

Blerg

March 13th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^

Wow. My sister and brother-in-law are Butler grads. Brad Stevens even worked for my father right after he graduated from Depauw when he first started volunteering with Butler.  He had to give my dad the "bad" news that he was going to coach full time.  Butler's my squad after Michigan.  Had no idea any of this had transpired.  Thanks for sharing. I'm going to pass it on to the fam.

Joined: 07/28/2010

MGoPoints: 10658

Setshot

March 13th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^

Definitely should have took your advice and read it over lunch. It takes a lot to get to me, and I couldn't contain myself while reading this. Hell of a story. Now I need to go take a walk or something so that I can focus on getting some work done sometime this morning. 

Joined: 09/12/2011

MGoPoints: 749

remdog

March 13th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^

thanks for sharing. As an ER physician, I can tell you he beat the odds. Unfortunately, many people don't survive such an event. Too often, we take the daily heroic efforts of Emergency medical workers for granted, workers who routinely sacrifice emotionally and otherwise for others. We should be thankful for their courage and self-sacrifice. Of course, we should also be thankful for modern medicine which allows us to cure many previously incurable cancers. And it's always good to read stories reminding us to be thankful for every day of good health and empathetic towards others who may not be so lucky.

Joined: 05/14/2009

MGoPoints: 3072

LSAClassOf2000

March 13th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^

Like the OP, I had to take a moment after reading that to collect myself a little bit - incredible story indeed. I will say that I knew of Andrew Smith being a basketball junkie, but I had no idea that this was going on or had gone on at all. 

Thanks for sharing that - very, very moving.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130560