November 2, 2023 • 19 mins
The Carolina Panthers missed multiple chances to clinch the division during the 2003 regular season, but they finally secured a division title with a road win at Arizona in week 15. The Panthers would claim the #3 seed in the NFC playoffs and host the Cowboys in the wild card round on January 3rd, 2004. But what took place on January 2nd, 2004, still echoes today.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously Uncodiac. After multiple missed chances to clinch the division,
Carolinas secured a division title with a road win at Arizona.
The Panthers would claim the number three seed in the
NFC and host the Cowboys in a first round game.
At that point, Carolina's only playoff win in franchise history
(00:23):
came against Dallas back in nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I can't remember the pregame. You know, the teams lined
up on different sides of the fifty. You go through
their stretches and all this, and one of the Cowboys
helmets had rolled across the fifty out of the Panthers
side of the fifty pre game, and Bill Polly in
the GM picks the helmet up and flings it back
across the other side like he was set in the
tone for the day. And it was such a physical,
surprising beating.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Nick went back to passion his own seven puts it
up down the middle of the fail intercepted by Sam.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Meth fittingly, Sam Mills with the interception at the end
of the game which sealed the win. And I'll never
forget Sam talking to Jim Zochi in the locker room.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sam Mills had never won a playoff game, and what
that meant to him to have that big interception at
the end, to take it all the way down to
the one and to get his first playoff went on
top of that, and he was tearing up. He was
really emotional about that.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Literally choking up. And he's the guy that sealed the
deal in the win over Dallas.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Fires for prowling.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The ends up, take God Touchdom, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
He's gone and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The Panthers are gonna pull.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Another one out of their head.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Nice Tortianza touchdown, Fires over the medal.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Is that intercepted?
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Yes, it is up, It is gone.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Panthers have won in it over times.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
Man head the forty five to the forty and thought
it's right the honey Don Mine touchdown.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Cardiac for the Panthers. The playoffs began with a home
date against the Cowboys on wild Card weekend in its
ninth season of existence. It was Carolina's second playoff appearance.
It was also the second meeting of the season with
(02:10):
the Cowboys. Carolina went to Dallas in Week twelve. Rookie
left tackle Jordan gross.
Speaker 7 (02:18):
I remember that Leroy Glover is a grown man that
I couldn't move an inch off the ball. He was
a defensive tackle for them that just incredibly talented. That
was a hostile environment in the old stadium there with
that you know, open partially open dome and the astro turf.
It was fast. They had a good game plan for us,
and at that point in time, we were just a
(02:38):
kind of a team to watch a team that whenever
you're on a team that has a good record going
or a good streak, you can tell that the other
team is a little bit more geared up to play you.
And that's definitely how that Dallas game was. The first
time Quincy.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Carter in the shotgun stunt.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Coming, Carter fakes punks down the middle of the flord,
touchdown back to throw the long hastime, all the floats
in the air and it's pecked off bootleg by Carter
back to pass fires into the end zone.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
It's cut o.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The marvelous Cats.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Touchdown Dallas and who knows these teams may meet again
in the postseason, and this one is over, but a
bitter taste in their mouth again as they.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Leave Texas Stadium.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Final score Dallas Cowboys twenty four, Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Twenty Although Dallas got the best of Carolina in the
regular season, these weren't of the Cowboys of the nineties.
The halcyondes of Aikman, Emmett and Irvin had passed. Jake
Delomee knew the Panthers were the better team.
Speaker 8 (03:41):
They were losing. There's no doubt, like we lost to
them in November, like they were losing this playoff game.
There was no doubt we.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
Was gonna beat them like a drum. They didn't have
a shot.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It wasn't just Steve Smith and delome who had confidence
and conviction. It started with John Fox and the coaching staff.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
You know, we assumed they were gonna, you know, use
you know, pretty much the same game plan, and uh,
you know, we just had a way better answer for
what they did to us in the regular season in
that playoff game, and you know, they blenched us a lot.
You know, you live by the blench, you die by
the blench. And that game we executed really well, both
(04:22):
in protection and in the passing game. Because you got
to be precision. You got to be precise in how
you do things when they're pressure, you're like that, and
our guys handled it really, really well.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
It was what we experienced with what we went through
the first time playing against Dallas, and we walked in
and we got hit in the mouth. So we knew
we were gonna get hitting them out. So hey, button
up your chin strap, put your mouth card in, you know,
get your rest. We were not expecting a dog fight.
We were looking for a dog. They want to hit
us in the mouth. And the first time we played,
(04:53):
we took it. The second time at home in the playoffs,
we ducked, but then we counterpunched.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Punching back was something Sam Mills knew all about. The
hero of the ninety six playoff win against the Dallas
was now Carolina's linebackers coach. Defensive back Mike Minter played
with and for Sam Mills.
Speaker 9 (05:19):
Let me tell you, man, I'm a hitter and people
stop and watch me hit people, right, and I'm on
the field with Sam. Now this first time my life
doesn't happened. We playing New Orleans and he hit the
running back so hard like I'm I'm coming in to
get the tackle and then he comes from some Oh.
(05:41):
It was like a cannon when he hit the due
and I felt the dude and he was he was like,
you know, like made a noise, and I stopped in
my track and I said, Man, I have never ever
I'm saying this in my see somebody hit somebody that
hard and I would remember that like him yesterday because
(06:04):
the impact at which.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
He came was.
Speaker 9 (06:09):
Man, I was in owe and I've never been in
ode with somebody on the football stae.
Speaker 10 (06:15):
Now I'm in the middle of the game.
Speaker 9 (06:17):
Boy, that right there, to me exemplifies who he was
as a person because his spirit was all into what
he did. He gave everything he had to every game.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
For Mills. His fight began before the two thousand and
three season even started. Team historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (06:41):
It's crazy. We had a preseason game at Green Bay
and O three. I remember riding on a golf cart
from the locker room to the press box with Sam.
No I did anything is wrong with him? And then
right before the final preseason game against the Steelers here
put out a press release seeing that Sam has cancer
and you're just in complete shock. Just a few weeks
(07:02):
earlier you announced it. When you're starting linebackers as cancer
and here, just a couple of weeks later, your linebackers
coach has cancer, and you're thinking, Holy cal they're things
more important than football.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Mills had intestinal cancer. Panthers linebacker Mark Fields was diagnosed
with Hodgkins lymphoma. Fields would miss the entire two thousand
and three season, but did return to play for the
Panthers in two thousand and four. As for Mills, while
his cancer revelation was public, not everyone knew the severity
(07:36):
of the diagnosis. Head coach John Fox I.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
Knew early on. Again, you know, I meet with the
trainers every day. The trainers would update me. Uh, you know,
I knew the doctors, you know. I think he even
went up to the big hospital in New York for treatment,
and I knew the people there, So I was aware.
And I think for the most part, the coaching staff
was you know, you know, and those were things that
(08:01):
were personal. So, you know, a lot of people didn't
share it with the team, you know, because it's private.
But you know, I think at the end, I think
it started to show and I think most of the
kind of team knew the severity of it as the
season went on.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Defensive end Mike Rutger We play the sport because we
love it, and it's a game, end of the day,
it's a game that we get paid to do. We
played the game for free longer than we've been paid
for and so a lot of times that's the way
that we look at it, right, even though it's a job.
But then there's times and situations like Sam, like Mark Fields.
(08:38):
Mark Fields was our linebacker who who had had a
form of cancer. So all this is going on, So
now all of a sudden, it's not necessarily the game.
It's more personal and this is life, you know, And
so Sam humanized that whole situation and it made us
one be thankful for where we were at, but two
play for a different reason and to think about life differently.
(09:02):
Despite chemotherapy treatments ended side effects, Mills continued in his
role as linebackers coach.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Well, if you knew Sam Mills, you would never expected
anything different.
Speaker 11 (09:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
The fact that he got cancer was you know, just
ironic to me, because a guy could never have lived
a life helper than Sam Mills. I mean, he took
care of himself, he trained, he you know, wasn't a drinker,
wasn't a smoker.
Speaker 12 (09:30):
I mean he.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Took exceptional care of himself and then you know, for
something like that to you know, take over his body
and watch how he handled that strength he showed and
positive energy he brought to the people around him, you know,
just speaks volumes volume to the to the man he
was and was at that moment.
Speaker 12 (09:52):
The way that he was conducting himself looked like he
was battling and he was beating it and he was
pushing it back. And so for me person, that's where
I was at. Now. Obviously we don't know what's going
on inside and what the doctors were saying, but at
the time, it looked like he was doing it, and
he was beating it and he was going to beat it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Carolina was set to host Dallas on Saturday, January third,
two thousand and four offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 13 (10:23):
This was something that coach Fox instituted during the season
where he would have a player speak to the team
late in the week before you're going to play that
next opponent.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
You know, again him a day to prepare. I think
I used to tell them on Fridays, you know, and
it didn't matter whether we're on the road.
Speaker 13 (10:38):
Or at home.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
And I never coached him up on what to say.
Part of the concept of letting, you know, somebody speak is,
you know, to let them speak from their heart.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
As for what took place on January second, two thousand
and four, here's team his story in David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (10:55):
There's a lot of different stories about that. There were
no cameras there. Pretty much every recollection is a is
off of someone's memory.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Panthers quarterback Jake Delome recalls the eve of the big game.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
We stayed in the hotel the night before the game
in the Weston and the game wasn't until like eight
that evening, and so that's long, just staying all day long.
So what John did. We ended up getting the buses,
which and the bus just put us and it drove
us around to Cedar Street, the other side of the
practice field, and we just got out and we kind
of walked on the practice field and just kind of
just fresh air.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
I just knew Sam had a lot, you know, going
on in his life. I had no idea what exactly
you would say.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
What Sam Mills said still echoes today. Kevin Donnelly remembers I.
Speaker 13 (11:45):
Remember having taking a knee and seeing his silhouette in
front of me with the backdrop of the Charlotte City
skyline and hearing this man quietly talk about the battle
that he's gone through. All you can do with adversity
and obstacles difficulties is just to keep going along do
what you do and just organically said, you know, you
(12:08):
just you got to keep going. You've got to keep fighting.
It's like you just got to keep pounding, you know,
and you do it long enough, you're going to break through.
And we can do that. We've been doing all season.
Just keep pounding. This is the first playoff game we've
had at home. This is the team to beat us
during the regular season. But we've done great all week.
(12:29):
We just keep pounding. We start the game out great,
keep pounding through it, keep working, keep grinding, and to
have success.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Defensive lineman Al Wallace to hear the words, we knew,
you know, keep pounding me, to keep topping with.
Speaker 14 (12:42):
We hear those things all the time, but I think
at that moment we knew that that was something that
he was leaving us.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
With wide receiver Steve Smith.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I was watching a man with an illness that you
didn't know the outcome, and yet he was talking to
us as if he knew the outcome.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I don't know if we truly knew how he was.
We knew he wasn't well.
Speaker 14 (13:01):
But he didn't show it.
Speaker 15 (13:02):
He coached every day.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
And so it wasn't until you start getting I mean,
this is the first time we ever heard of Keith pounding.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You know.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
It wasn't like but it was just like, wow, you
know what I mean, just and it just they weren't winning.
I know, we keep saying that, like we were beating
that football team. There was no doubt we were gonna
beat that football team. And then as it went on,
you live in the moment, I think that's the biggest thing,
and then after when you take a step back, you're like, Okay, wait.
Speaker 12 (13:28):
A minute, that was big.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
What just happened?
Speaker 8 (13:30):
That speech, the play, you know, just everything about it.
That's this is gonna be big one day. But I
just think we were so doubt in and focused that
it maybe got I don't know, it didn't get lost
because everybody remembers it, but it was just it was
just part of the process.
Speaker 11 (13:43):
That's not the first time Sam had ever talked about
keep pounding. Go back to nineteen ninety five, the team
had started out zero to five, and Sam, just as
he was as a leader as a coach, was a
leader in that locker room, and he told his teammates
to keep pounding, keep pounding. That is a phrase that
Sam or a motto, a mantra that Sam used throughout
(14:04):
his life. So it just didn't have it. It just
didn't resonate for when he had cancer. And on that
particular day, that is stuffing that Sam lived by, and
he shared that with the team.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Wide receiver, Mussin Mohammadan, all the teammates, you know, the
entire team there, you know, felt the pain that he
was going through.
Speaker 10 (14:22):
And for Sam to show up every day the way
he was and he was battling what he was baling,
was an amazing testament what kind of man he was,
the kind of teammate he was, and you know, sitting
out on that field that day, going through that walkthrough
and then hearing that speech, we were all lifted. I
think we were all lifted. I think we were all
emotionally lifted. And he guided us through the next next.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Few games defensive end Julius Peppers.
Speaker 10 (14:50):
It was a special moment that turned into the foundation
for this organization.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
When the Panthers opened the postseason against the Cowboys, the
national narrative centered predictably around Dallas. The Cowboys were back
in the playoffs for the first time in five years,
and under Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells. Dallas
boasted the NFL's number one defense, but on that day,
(15:29):
they stood no chance.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Smith goes up and catches that Freck's attack of burning
down the field fifteen Can anybody catch him?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
He's to the thirty, He's to the.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
Twenty ten five in the one yard line.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Damas up the middle, twenty turns.
Speaker 10 (15:42):
Outside fifteen ten five.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Davis touchdown, Helong.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Back in the pocket, doutfield.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It goes for Steve Smith with coverage deck.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
He went up and got it touchdown.
Speaker 11 (15:53):
What a catch?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What's just come in by Terry Cousin. Carter throws over
the middle of a dinner step. Then Julius Peffer's coming
back the other way thirty twenty Peppers fifteen and down
the eleven yard line. What an effort tonight fight Carolina
twenty nine to ten to the final.
Speaker 14 (16:09):
For us, it meant the world that a guy would
give his time sacrifice, maybe being with his own family
and his kids, that he felt a part of this
team and that we were going to fight and do
everything we could to take him as long as possible.
At some point during that year, I know we had
the conversation, Hey, maybe this is why he's fighting so
hard every single game we win every playoff opportunity. Maybe
(16:30):
that's going to pull him along even further.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Despite a terminal diagnosis, Sam Mills would make it through
the entirety of the two thousand and three season end
the two thousand and four calendar year. Mills passed away
on April eighteenth, two thousand and five, but Sam's spirit
lives on in two eternal.
Speaker 12 (16:55):
Words, heep, heep.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Keep pounding. It has become the soul stone and the
beating heart of the Carolina.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Panthers, the Panther celebrating their annual Keep Pounding Day by
serving the community.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
I appreciate a lot of practice plans, nding what up,
got a big homewin?
Speaker 14 (17:18):
You know what of that?
Speaker 12 (17:19):
Not the next week, keep prominating, let's go.
Speaker 15 (17:29):
I'd never waiver, you know, in my belief in what
we're doing and how we're doing it and what it
takes to win. I know what the answer is it's
not easy. Who are we going to be and are
we going to keep fighting? And are we going to
keep pounding? And I believe it will.
Speaker 12 (17:44):
So I've been able to see this organization grow and
the guys that have come in the coaching staff, and
there's been some highlight moments, right, and there's been some
some history moments, But as far as a groundbreaking DNA moment,
that was it. That was it, hands down.
Speaker 13 (18:01):
That kind of culture resonated throughout that building, the fans
and everyone. It just resonated with me because it felt
like we were every man's team. Keep Pounding really at
its roots with mister Richardson acquiring the franchise because there
was no step in the process where he wasn't met
with obstacles, doubt, people saying it wouldn't work. There weren't
(18:24):
big enough of market, any wrong turn here or there
that this franchise could have ended up in another city.
Speaker 12 (18:29):
This is part of this building, in this team's DNA right,
that doesn't go away, right, You don't take your blood
cells out of your blood like, it doesn't work that way.
Keep pounding is part of us and anybody that puts
on this uniform puts on a T shirt or the hat,
or is employed with this organization. It should be someone's
duty inside the building, or outside the building, or in
(18:50):
the community to tell the story of keep pounding the channel.
Speaker 16 (18:54):
Keep pounding may seem small, but for the men who
experience instinct, it is who we are. You take that
away from us, you take away every legend, every person
in this city. Or keep pounding was given to us
by a man who is thinking about other people.
Speaker 13 (19:14):
So understand, keep Pounding.
Speaker 15 (19:16):
Is not a mantra, it's not words.
Speaker 10 (19:20):
It's exactly who we are.
Previously Uncodiac. After multiple missed chances to clinch the division,
Carolinas secured a division title with a road win at Arizona.
The Panthers would claim the number three seed in the
NFC and host the Cowboys in a first round game.
At that point, Carolina's only playoff win in franchise history
(00:23):
came against Dallas back in nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I can't remember the pregame. You know, the teams lined
up on different sides of the fifty. You go through
their stretches and all this, and one of the Cowboys
helmets had rolled across the fifty out of the Panthers
side of the fifty pre game, and Bill Polly in
the GM picks the helmet up and flings it back
across the other side like he was set in the
tone for the day. And it was such a physical,
surprising beating.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Nick went back to passion his own seven puts it
up down the middle of the fail intercepted by Sam.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Meth fittingly, Sam Mills with the interception at the end
of the game which sealed the win. And I'll never
forget Sam talking to Jim Zochi in the locker room.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sam Mills had never won a playoff game, and what
that meant to him to have that big interception at
the end, to take it all the way down to
the one and to get his first playoff went on
top of that, and he was tearing up. He was
really emotional about that.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Literally choking up. And he's the guy that sealed the
deal in the win over Dallas.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Fires for prowling.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
The ends up, take God Touchdom, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
He's gone and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
The Panthers are gonna pull.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Another one out of their head.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Nice Tortianza touchdown, Fires over the medal.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Is that intercepted?
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Yes, it is up, It is gone.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Panthers have won in it over times.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
Man head the forty five to the forty and thought
it's right the honey Don Mine touchdown.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Cardiac for the Panthers. The playoffs began with a home
date against the Cowboys on wild Card weekend in its
ninth season of existence. It was Carolina's second playoff appearance.
It was also the second meeting of the season with
(02:10):
the Cowboys. Carolina went to Dallas in Week twelve. Rookie
left tackle Jordan gross.
Speaker 7 (02:18):
I remember that Leroy Glover is a grown man that
I couldn't move an inch off the ball. He was
a defensive tackle for them that just incredibly talented. That
was a hostile environment in the old stadium there with
that you know, open partially open dome and the astro turf.
It was fast. They had a good game plan for us,
and at that point in time, we were just a
(02:38):
kind of a team to watch a team that whenever
you're on a team that has a good record going
or a good streak, you can tell that the other
team is a little bit more geared up to play you.
And that's definitely how that Dallas game was. The first
time Quincy.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Carter in the shotgun stunt.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Coming, Carter fakes punks down the middle of the flord,
touchdown back to throw the long hastime, all the floats
in the air and it's pecked off bootleg by Carter
back to pass fires into the end zone.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
It's cut o.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The marvelous Cats.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Touchdown Dallas and who knows these teams may meet again
in the postseason, and this one is over, but a
bitter taste in their mouth again as they.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Leave Texas Stadium.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Final score Dallas Cowboys twenty four, Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Twenty Although Dallas got the best of Carolina in the
regular season, these weren't of the Cowboys of the nineties.
The halcyondes of Aikman, Emmett and Irvin had passed. Jake
Delomee knew the Panthers were the better team.
Speaker 8 (03:41):
They were losing. There's no doubt, like we lost to
them in November, like they were losing this playoff game.
There was no doubt we.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
Was gonna beat them like a drum. They didn't have
a shot.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It wasn't just Steve Smith and delome who had confidence
and conviction. It started with John Fox and the coaching staff.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
You know, we assumed they were gonna, you know, use
you know, pretty much the same game plan, and uh,
you know, we just had a way better answer for
what they did to us in the regular season in
that playoff game, and you know, they blenched us a lot.
You know, you live by the blench, you die by
the blench. And that game we executed really well, both
(04:22):
in protection and in the passing game. Because you got
to be precision. You got to be precise in how
you do things when they're pressure, you're like that, and
our guys handled it really, really well.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
It was what we experienced with what we went through
the first time playing against Dallas, and we walked in
and we got hit in the mouth. So we knew
we were gonna get hitting them out. So hey, button
up your chin strap, put your mouth card in, you know,
get your rest. We were not expecting a dog fight.
We were looking for a dog. They want to hit
us in the mouth. And the first time we played,
(04:53):
we took it. The second time at home in the playoffs,
we ducked, but then we counterpunched.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Punching back was something Sam Mills knew all about. The
hero of the ninety six playoff win against the Dallas
was now Carolina's linebackers coach. Defensive back Mike Minter played
with and for Sam Mills.
Speaker 9 (05:19):
Let me tell you, man, I'm a hitter and people
stop and watch me hit people, right, and I'm on
the field with Sam. Now this first time my life
doesn't happened. We playing New Orleans and he hit the
running back so hard like I'm I'm coming in to
get the tackle and then he comes from some Oh.
(05:41):
It was like a cannon when he hit the due
and I felt the dude and he was he was like,
you know, like made a noise, and I stopped in
my track and I said, Man, I have never ever
I'm saying this in my see somebody hit somebody that
hard and I would remember that like him yesterday because
(06:04):
the impact at which.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
He came was.
Speaker 9 (06:09):
Man, I was in owe and I've never been in
ode with somebody on the football stae.
Speaker 10 (06:15):
Now I'm in the middle of the game.
Speaker 9 (06:17):
Boy, that right there, to me exemplifies who he was
as a person because his spirit was all into what
he did. He gave everything he had to every game.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
For Mills. His fight began before the two thousand and
three season even started. Team historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (06:41):
It's crazy. We had a preseason game at Green Bay
and O three. I remember riding on a golf cart
from the locker room to the press box with Sam.
No I did anything is wrong with him? And then
right before the final preseason game against the Steelers here
put out a press release seeing that Sam has cancer
and you're just in complete shock. Just a few weeks
(07:02):
earlier you announced it. When you're starting linebackers as cancer
and here, just a couple of weeks later, your linebackers
coach has cancer, and you're thinking, Holy cal they're things
more important than football.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Mills had intestinal cancer. Panthers linebacker Mark Fields was diagnosed
with Hodgkins lymphoma. Fields would miss the entire two thousand
and three season, but did return to play for the
Panthers in two thousand and four. As for Mills, while
his cancer revelation was public, not everyone knew the severity
(07:36):
of the diagnosis. Head coach John Fox I.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
Knew early on. Again, you know, I meet with the
trainers every day. The trainers would update me. Uh, you know,
I knew the doctors, you know. I think he even
went up to the big hospital in New York for treatment,
and I knew the people there, So I was aware.
And I think for the most part, the coaching staff
was you know, you know, and those were things that
(08:01):
were personal. So, you know, a lot of people didn't
share it with the team, you know, because it's private.
But you know, I think at the end, I think
it started to show and I think most of the
kind of team knew the severity of it as the
season went on.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Defensive end Mike Rutger We play the sport because we
love it, and it's a game, end of the day,
it's a game that we get paid to do. We
played the game for free longer than we've been paid
for and so a lot of times that's the way
that we look at it, right, even though it's a job.
But then there's times and situations like Sam, like Mark Fields.
(08:38):
Mark Fields was our linebacker who who had had a
form of cancer. So all this is going on, So
now all of a sudden, it's not necessarily the game.
It's more personal and this is life, you know, And
so Sam humanized that whole situation and it made us
one be thankful for where we were at, but two
play for a different reason and to think about life differently.
(09:02):
Despite chemotherapy treatments ended side effects, Mills continued in his
role as linebackers coach.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Well, if you knew Sam Mills, you would never expected
anything different.
Speaker 11 (09:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
The fact that he got cancer was you know, just
ironic to me, because a guy could never have lived
a life helper than Sam Mills. I mean, he took
care of himself, he trained, he you know, wasn't a drinker,
wasn't a smoker.
Speaker 12 (09:30):
I mean he.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Took exceptional care of himself and then you know, for
something like that to you know, take over his body
and watch how he handled that strength he showed and
positive energy he brought to the people around him, you know,
just speaks volumes volume to the to the man he
was and was at that moment.
Speaker 12 (09:52):
The way that he was conducting himself looked like he
was battling and he was beating it and he was
pushing it back. And so for me person, that's where
I was at. Now. Obviously we don't know what's going
on inside and what the doctors were saying, but at
the time, it looked like he was doing it, and
he was beating it and he was going to beat it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Carolina was set to host Dallas on Saturday, January third,
two thousand and four offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 13 (10:23):
This was something that coach Fox instituted during the season
where he would have a player speak to the team
late in the week before you're going to play that
next opponent.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
You know, again him a day to prepare. I think
I used to tell them on Fridays, you know, and
it didn't matter whether we're on the road.
Speaker 13 (10:38):
Or at home.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
And I never coached him up on what to say.
Part of the concept of letting, you know, somebody speak is,
you know, to let them speak from their heart.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
As for what took place on January second, two thousand
and four, here's team his story in David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (10:55):
There's a lot of different stories about that. There were
no cameras there. Pretty much every recollection is a is
off of someone's memory.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Panthers quarterback Jake Delome recalls the eve of the big game.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
We stayed in the hotel the night before the game
in the Weston and the game wasn't until like eight
that evening, and so that's long, just staying all day long.
So what John did. We ended up getting the buses,
which and the bus just put us and it drove
us around to Cedar Street, the other side of the
practice field, and we just got out and we kind
of walked on the practice field and just kind of
just fresh air.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
I just knew Sam had a lot, you know, going
on in his life. I had no idea what exactly
you would say.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
What Sam Mills said still echoes today. Kevin Donnelly remembers I.
Speaker 13 (11:45):
Remember having taking a knee and seeing his silhouette in
front of me with the backdrop of the Charlotte City
skyline and hearing this man quietly talk about the battle
that he's gone through. All you can do with adversity
and obstacles difficulties is just to keep going along do
what you do and just organically said, you know, you
(12:08):
just you got to keep going. You've got to keep fighting.
It's like you just got to keep pounding, you know,
and you do it long enough, you're going to break through.
And we can do that. We've been doing all season.
Just keep pounding. This is the first playoff game we've
had at home. This is the team to beat us
during the regular season. But we've done great all week.
(12:29):
We just keep pounding. We start the game out great,
keep pounding through it, keep working, keep grinding, and to
have success.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Defensive lineman Al Wallace to hear the words, we knew,
you know, keep pounding me, to keep topping with.
Speaker 14 (12:42):
We hear those things all the time, but I think
at that moment we knew that that was something that
he was leaving us.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
With wide receiver Steve Smith.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I was watching a man with an illness that you
didn't know the outcome, and yet he was talking to
us as if he knew the outcome.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I don't know if we truly knew how he was.
We knew he wasn't well.
Speaker 14 (13:01):
But he didn't show it.
Speaker 15 (13:02):
He coached every day.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
And so it wasn't until you start getting I mean,
this is the first time we ever heard of Keith pounding.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You know.
Speaker 8 (13:09):
It wasn't like but it was just like, wow, you
know what I mean, just and it just they weren't winning.
I know, we keep saying that, like we were beating
that football team. There was no doubt we were gonna
beat that football team. And then as it went on,
you live in the moment, I think that's the biggest thing,
and then after when you take a step back, you're like, Okay, wait.
Speaker 12 (13:28):
A minute, that was big.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
What just happened?
Speaker 8 (13:30):
That speech, the play, you know, just everything about it.
That's this is gonna be big one day. But I
just think we were so doubt in and focused that
it maybe got I don't know, it didn't get lost
because everybody remembers it, but it was just it was
just part of the process.
Speaker 11 (13:43):
That's not the first time Sam had ever talked about
keep pounding. Go back to nineteen ninety five, the team
had started out zero to five, and Sam, just as
he was as a leader as a coach, was a
leader in that locker room, and he told his teammates
to keep pounding, keep pounding. That is a phrase that
Sam or a motto, a mantra that Sam used throughout
(14:04):
his life. So it just didn't have it. It just
didn't resonate for when he had cancer. And on that
particular day, that is stuffing that Sam lived by, and
he shared that with the team.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Wide receiver, Mussin Mohammadan, all the teammates, you know, the
entire team there, you know, felt the pain that he
was going through.
Speaker 10 (14:22):
And for Sam to show up every day the way
he was and he was battling what he was baling,
was an amazing testament what kind of man he was,
the kind of teammate he was, and you know, sitting
out on that field that day, going through that walkthrough
and then hearing that speech, we were all lifted. I
think we were all lifted. I think we were all
emotionally lifted. And he guided us through the next next.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Few games defensive end Julius Peppers.
Speaker 10 (14:50):
It was a special moment that turned into the foundation
for this organization.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
When the Panthers opened the postseason against the Cowboys, the
national narrative centered predictably around Dallas. The Cowboys were back
in the playoffs for the first time in five years,
and under Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells. Dallas
boasted the NFL's number one defense, but on that day,
(15:29):
they stood no chance.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Smith goes up and catches that Freck's attack of burning
down the field fifteen Can anybody catch him?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
He's to the thirty, He's to the.
Speaker 7 (15:37):
Twenty ten five in the one yard line.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Damas up the middle, twenty turns.
Speaker 10 (15:42):
Outside fifteen ten five.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Davis touchdown, Helong.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Back in the pocket, doutfield.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It goes for Steve Smith with coverage deck.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
He went up and got it touchdown.
Speaker 11 (15:53):
What a catch?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What's just come in by Terry Cousin. Carter throws over
the middle of a dinner step. Then Julius Peffer's coming
back the other way thirty twenty Peppers fifteen and down
the eleven yard line. What an effort tonight fight Carolina
twenty nine to ten to the final.
Speaker 14 (16:09):
For us, it meant the world that a guy would
give his time sacrifice, maybe being with his own family
and his kids, that he felt a part of this
team and that we were going to fight and do
everything we could to take him as long as possible.
At some point during that year, I know we had
the conversation, Hey, maybe this is why he's fighting so
hard every single game we win every playoff opportunity. Maybe
(16:30):
that's going to pull him along even further.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Despite a terminal diagnosis, Sam Mills would make it through
the entirety of the two thousand and three season end
the two thousand and four calendar year. Mills passed away
on April eighteenth, two thousand and five, but Sam's spirit
lives on in two eternal.
Speaker 12 (16:55):
Words, heep, heep.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Keep pounding. It has become the soul stone and the
beating heart of the Carolina.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Panthers, the Panther celebrating their annual Keep Pounding Day by
serving the community.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
I appreciate a lot of practice plans, nding what up,
got a big homewin?
Speaker 14 (17:18):
You know what of that?
Speaker 12 (17:19):
Not the next week, keep prominating, let's go.
Speaker 15 (17:29):
I'd never waiver, you know, in my belief in what
we're doing and how we're doing it and what it
takes to win. I know what the answer is it's
not easy. Who are we going to be and are
we going to keep fighting? And are we going to
keep pounding? And I believe it will.
Speaker 12 (17:44):
So I've been able to see this organization grow and
the guys that have come in the coaching staff, and
there's been some highlight moments, right, and there's been some
some history moments, But as far as a groundbreaking DNA moment,
that was it. That was it, hands down.
Speaker 13 (18:01):
That kind of culture resonated throughout that building, the fans
and everyone. It just resonated with me because it felt
like we were every man's team. Keep Pounding really at
its roots with mister Richardson acquiring the franchise because there
was no step in the process where he wasn't met
with obstacles, doubt, people saying it wouldn't work. There weren't
(18:24):
big enough of market, any wrong turn here or there
that this franchise could have ended up in another city.
Speaker 12 (18:29):
This is part of this building, in this team's DNA right,
that doesn't go away, right, You don't take your blood
cells out of your blood like, it doesn't work that way.
Keep pounding is part of us and anybody that puts
on this uniform puts on a T shirt or the hat,
or is employed with this organization. It should be someone's
duty inside the building, or outside the building, or in
(18:50):
the community to tell the story of keep pounding the channel.
Speaker 16 (18:54):
Keep pounding may seem small, but for the men who
experience instinct, it is who we are. You take that
away from us, you take away every legend, every person
in this city. Or keep pounding was given to us
by a man who is thinking about other people.
Speaker 13 (19:14):
So understand, keep Pounding.
Speaker 15 (19:16):
Is not a mantra, it's not words.
Speaker 10 (19:20):
It's exactly who we are.
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