By Jacob Luecke

This story is featured in the Spring 2013 edition of myBoone Health magazine. Click here for a free subscription.

The Tigers were simply off the mark. The packed Hearnes Center crowd was getting nervous.

Norm Stewart’s team was ranked fifth in the nation, riding a 10-game winning streak.

Norm Stewart Collection (CA5854), The State Historical Society of Missouri

But here they were, struggling to score against the unranked Kansas State Wildcats. It was Feb. 4, 1989.

At the half, the Tigers walked off the court tied with the Wildcats. They had scored only 28 points. A major upset was brewing.

Coach Stewart had to regroup. In the locker room, his players suggested getting the ball to center Gary Leonard and Mizzou’s big men, who had a major size advantage over Kansas State’s relatively small frontline.

The strategy worked. Leonard was nearly unstoppable, scoring 12 of the Tigers next 22 points. Mizzou built a nine-point lead.

“Leonard pretty much did anything he wanted to,” Kansas State Coach Lon Kruger told reporters after the game.

But the Wildcats fought back, twice cutting Mizzou’s lead to one point. In game’s final minute, Kansas State took possession trailing 69-66.

As the Wildcats worked the court, looking for an open three-point shot, one of Stewart’s Tigers jabbed at the ball, knocking it off a Wildcat and out of bounds.

Kansas State was forced to foul. Mizzou hit its free throws and escaped with a 73-68 win.

“It was a good win, especially for the situation,” Norm told reporters after the game.

It was one of those classic Norm Stewart basketball triumphs. Even when things weren’t going as planned, Mizzou forged together and found a way to survive.

These are the difficult games that pay dividends down the road.

It is the kind of battle that makes a team stronger. Bigger challenges were ahead.

Norm Stewart Collection (CA5854), The State Historical Society of Missouri

Change of plans

After the Kansas State victory, the Tigers were on top of the world.

They were the country’s first team to reach 20 wins. They were leading in the Big Eight and ranked third in the national poll — their highest position in seven years.

It was an electrifying time for the team and Mizzou fans across the state.

But while excitement built around his team, Coach Stewart had new concerns at home.

Norm Stewart Collection (CA5854), The State Historical Society of Missouri

In days, his wife, Virginia, was scheduled to have a complete hysterectomy. Doctors had discovered a growth. They feared it might be cancer, but wouldn’t know for sure until after the operation.

Virginia was Norm’s college sweetheart, the love of his life, his biggest fan and supporter.

They met at Mizzou. She followed him during his short career in professional sports and was by his side as he found success as a coach.

Now, she might have cancer.

As Virginia was prepping for surgery at the hospital, Norm and the Tigers were on a plane bound for Oklahoma.

Norm Stewart Collection (CA5854), The State Historical Society of Missouri

The close victory over Kansas State was a character-builder. But taking on the University of Oklahoma Sooners would be far more difficult. The Sooners had narrowly lost the national championship the previous season. They looked even better this year.

The whole college basketball world would be watching this one.

But Norm never made it to the game. He became dizzy on the airplane and collapsed mid-flight.

Doctors in Oklahoma City thought he might have a bleeding ulcer and sent him back to Columbia.

Although she was heavily medicated, Virginia remembers a basketball assistant coming into her hospital room and telling her Norm was coming back unexpectedly.

“I thought that was strange,” she said.

Back in Columbia, doctors examining Norm discovered a large mass on his colon. Like his wife, he would need surgery to remove the tumor.

After their surgeries, doctors found that Virginia’s tumor was benign. But Norm’s was cancer. Even worse, it had already spread to one of his lymph nodes.

It was great news and awful news all at once. It seemed like one of the most bizarre and dark twists imaginable.

But, like the best Tiger teams, the Stewarts rallied against adversity. They’d find victory yet. Read the rest of this entry »