Oct. 22, 2012 – Since May 2011, Concordia University Chicago men's basketball head coach Tyler Jones and his team have traveled an amazing journey, one that has both challenged and affirmed their trust and support in each other after Jones revealed to his team on ESPN that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
           
On Nov. 6, that journey will take Jones and his 2012-13 team to New York City where they will play an exhibition game against St. John's University at Carnesecca Arena.
           
While the Cougars, a member of the NCAA Division III, have played exhibitions in the past against Division I teams, this game will have added meaning. St. John's is coached by Steve Lavin who, like Jones, is a fellow cancer survivor. The two coaches came together on ESPN's “Outside the Lines” segment last December after Jones revealed that Lavin played a role in his own story.
           
“There was a history of cancer among the men in my family,” acknowledged Jones, “but when I was sitting on the couch at home one night and hearing the announcement on ESPN about Coach Lavin being diagnosed with cancer, that was the impetus for me to go and get myself checked out by a urologist. I was thinking that 'I don't want that to be me,' but when I was diagnosed with cancer a month later, knowing that Coach Lavin had gone through this helped me to prepare to fight this.”
           
Jones' story was told nationally on Sept. 2, 2011 when ESPN's cameras showed Jones breaking the news to the Cougar men's basketball team at his home in Chicago on the “Outside the Lines” program. Eleven days later, Jones made a follow-up appearance with legendary college football coach Bobby Bowden, also a cancer survivor. A third appearance in the ESPN studio came Nov. 30 before Jones was filmed for a segment on Dec. 6 with Lavin. That could have been the end of the story, but it was not.
             
“One week after I did the segment with Coach Lavin, I received a call from (St. John's assistant coach) Derrick Wrobel who raised the possibility of the team coming to New York,” said Jones. “The opportunity for us to play in a Division I setting while also having the chance to promote cancer awareness through a collaborative effort – how could we say no?”
           
Some of the promotional details are still in the planning stages, but the Cougars will participate in a gift exchange with St. John's Red Storm. Concordia will present the St. John's players with specially designed T-shirts with a “fight prostate cancer” message. Also, Jones and his coaching staff will echo Lavin's practice of wearing white gym shoes for the game, a tradition that hearkens back to the “Coaches vs. Cancer” movement.
           
The Concordia Cougars will depart for New York City on Nov. 5 and have a practice and shoot-around in Carnesecca Arena prior to the Nov. 6 game at 7:30 p.m. The team returns to Chicago on Nov. 7 and will prepare for a second exhibition game (Chicago State University, Nov. 13) before opening the 2012-13 regular season Nov. 16-17 in the annual River Forest Classic.
           
But for now, the St. John's game is in the team's sights. “We are grateful to Coach Lavin and all the staff at St. John's for granting us this opportunity,” states Jones. “Most importantly, this is a great stage for promoting awareness of cancer prevention. But it is also safe to say that the game and the entire three days will be something that the Concordia Cougars will never forget.”