As Sam Mills comes close to the Hall of Fame, his legacy endures in Carolina

Of course, before they built a statue of Mills, before they sewed his words into the inside of jerseys, he had to say them.

The day before the Panthers faced Dallas in the playoffs following the 2003 season, Mills addressed a Panthers team that no one saw coming. Sure, they had a good defense, and one burgeoning star in Smith on offense, but they caught people off guard all year. They had a knack for coming from behind, for exceeding expectations.

So before they entered the playoffs, Mills stood and talked. He spent the year bouncing between cancer treatments and coaching responsibilities, never letting on the physical agony he was going through. For Sam Mills, it was another chance to work, another opportunity to put everything he had into the team.

“When I found out I had cancer, there were two things could do: quit or keep pounding,” Mills said on Jan. 2, 2004. “I’m a fighter. I kept pounding. You’re fighters, too. Keep pounding!”

Smith and Morgan were there that day. The words hit them hard, because of the close relationships built with the man saying them.

Smith remembered that all eyes and ears were focused on Mills, because they knew what he was going through. “But he wasn’t looking for sympathy; for him, it was about doing his job.”

“Obviously, it’s something you always remember, it’s imprinted on your mind,” Morgan said. “Sam didn’t want anyone to ever feel sorry for him. We knew what he was going through, but he never skipped a beat. I also remember how matter-of-fact it was, the way he said it. He was genuine, it was from the heart.

“You could tell how much it meant to him to be there in that moment. It was a little emotional, but not like you’d expect. I don’t think he ever wanted to be a big deal, but he definitely wanted to make sure he impacted people the right way.”