If anyone has listened to an NBA game on the Radio you've more than certainly heard the voice of one of the toughest S.O.B's. in the business. Analyst Jack Ramsay calls games on ESPN Radio, and is one of the most respected men within the game of Basketball. In fact, Many of my Sunday nights were spent listening to him provide color as I drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains back to college.

Before he was an exceptional analyst, Dr. Jack was an amazing coach in the college (St. Joes) and pro ranks (Buffalo Braves, Portland Trailblazers). He was coach of the 1977 (Bill Walton led) Portland team that won the NBA Championship. He was also enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1994, and is considered one of the best coaches of all time.

While Dr. Jack has had some amazing battles in his basketball career......they are nothing compared to what he's taking on now......

As Jack Ramsay has cared for his wife through her debilitating battle with Alzheimer's disease, cancer hopscotched through his body -- from his foot, to his calf, to his groin, to his lung, and most recently to his brain.

When he's not taking cancer treatments or visiting the facility where his wife has lived the past two months, Ramsay crisscrosses the country analyzing NBA games for ESPN Radio, swims most days in the Gulf of Mexico (he did two-thirds of a mile one morning last week) and handles his daily routine of 60 push-ups and 135 sit-ups -- the same number he did 20 years ago.

Now that's admirable. And at 82 years old he continues to keep things in perspective....

"I feel good. If I didn't have cancer, I wouldn't know there was anything wrong with me. I've had a great life, whether it lasts another month or 10 years. I've had five great kids. My wife has been a great wife and mother. I've made a life out of a game."

Ramsay continues to defy the odds though. He wasn't supposed to make it this long, and he's been dominating the Melanoma that shows up randomly throughout his body since 2004.

Dr. Jack always kept me great company on 4 hour drives, and I'll be sure to turn off the TV during the Western Conference Finals, and give him a listen. You should give it a try at least once too.

'Dr. Jack's' big battles (Miami Herald)