November 30, 2023 • 24 mins
The Carolina Panthers journey to the 2003 NFC Championship was a roller coaster ride. It was a season defined by four overtime wins, late game comebacks, personal hardships, soul-defining moments and at times improbable saviors. But belief never blinked in the face of adversity. Hope always floated.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously uncodiac.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome back to Ericson Stadium and many of the fans
still here savoring the moments. The Carolina Panthers beating the
Dallas Cowboys twenty nine to ten at advancing in the
NFC playoffs. It'll be on to Saint Louis next Saturday
to take on the Rams. Flits again coming to Lope pumps,
(00:25):
he's got time, throws.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Down field, swim at the forty five to the forty.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I thought it's right, any ten five touchdown.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Touchdown Steve Smith, and we.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
Are going to the NFC Championship Game.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Now it's getting real. I mean, you beat the Dallas
Cowboys pretty handily. You've beat the team at some most
I would say not was the favorite to win the
Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
You knock them out in the next round.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
So you're walking out of there knowing you've got to
go on the road play a great Philadelphia team in
the NFC title game. That is going to be very difficult.
But now it's like you've won a game that nobody
thought you were going to win, so nothing seems too
big in that moment.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
The city of Philadelphia draws its name from two Greek
words billyo, meaning to love, and Adelphos meaning brother. However,
former Panthers player turned broadcaster Eugene Robinson knew all too
well that fraternal love was elusive for outsiders fans.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
Man A fans don't like you, do you know where
you stand? What Philly fans do. They don't like you.
They love their team and they don't like you. Even
when we would play Philadelphia and I'm as a broadcaster,
I would never fly my colors that I'm wearing. I
never wore like Panther gear at all, never did not
in Philly.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski says in Philadelphia apparel,
who would not reveal outside allegiance.
Speaker 8 (01:57):
Leading up to go in to Philadelphia. The people, the Panthers' organization,
a lot of staffers go into the game, and they
were told not to wear any Panther shirts, you know, sweatshirts,
because you didn't know what the Philly fans were gonna do.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
Longtime Panthers broadcaster Jim Zochi we went into one of
the downtown sports bars and we had eight to ten
of us there, and we walk in and somebody yells
from across the crowded bar.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Get the heck out of here, I'll insert heck, it's
loud in there. So we turn around and kind of
like smile, I'm not kidding, get the heck out of here.
And I think it was the bartender. It was not
a patriot. We go in there, and now we feel
like we might get into a street fight in this
bar just for walking in in Panther gigs. They think
we're Panther fans visiting to go sit in the stands
(02:42):
and be part of the game. We finally muster up
the energy and gumption to sit down in the middle
of this crowded bar, and one are the tables talking
next to us, starts kind of joking around and laughing
and whatever, and then they figure out somewhere in the
conversation we're the Panthers broadcast crew. And next thing after
again they had lost the two previous NFC title games, like, Hey.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
You think we can beat you guys?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
You guys are really good, right, Like all of a sudden,
their tone changed because they knew, like, we're kind of
like insiders that and have a little bit more on
the ball than just being like they're rising some.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
Fans here Panthers head coach John Fox had spent the
previous five seasons in the NFC East as the Giants
defensive coordinator. Fox knew exactly what to expect in Philadelphia.
Speaker 9 (03:24):
Anytime you travel in the NFL, you got to take
a road warrior mindset. And that's there's nobody rooting for
us there. It's just who we got right here. You know,
some places are tougher to player than others, and you know,
Philly is one of those places where they're throwing stuff
at you when you walk through the tunnel, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Know they hate you.
Speaker 6 (03:42):
Before the game with the Eagles, Jordan Gross and the
players saw birds of a different father.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
I mean, wait, pull in.
Speaker 10 (03:51):
It had been snowing recently, and so the fans were
just pelting us with snowballs like crazy, like just knocking
the heck out of our us with snowballs. And I'll
never forget this, Like an old grandma, I mean, gray haired,
old lady double middle finger, just flipping us off as
we pulled into the stadium, and I just was laughing, thinking,
this is pretty dang cool that their fans care this much.
(04:13):
What an environment.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
While the players took the bus to the stadium. Jim
Zoki and the broadcast crew chose to ride with the locals.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
We take a train to go down to the game
from the hotel. I'm thinking in my head, I am
not gonna wear my Panther gear to go into this
underground subway train station, just because I don't.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Want the hassle.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I don't want to talk, so I wear just a
generic black coat, no hat. Nobody's wearing Panther gear. There's
a guy down there selling Philadelphia Eagles gear. Everybody's going
to the game. The destination of this train is to
the game. They're all head to toe wearing Eagles gear.
And he walks by hat, some beads, hat, some beads.
Get your Eagles hat, some beads, and he walks past us, stops,
(04:54):
turns around, walks back to us, and goes I smell cat.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
Before the game, I'm in the press box and one
of the Philly Riders came up to me. He said,
you have to play by play guy, right, I said yeah,
and he looked at me dead serious. He said, you
honestly think that the Panthers can win this game today?
And I looked at him and I said, I said yeah,
I said, if you looked at our season, you know
this team, somehow, Someway, starting with the first game, has
(05:24):
found a way in big moments to win football games.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
I said, definitely, Yes, Fyer's patrolling the.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Ends up, Hey, God, touchdown, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
He's gone, and.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Ice Tortianza touchdown. Buyer's over the medal? Is that intercepted? Yes,
it is up, it is gone. Panthers have won in
and over times, head the forty five to.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The forty and going's right the honey Den touchdown. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Cardiac.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
The Panthers' journey to the NFC Championship was a roller
coaster ride. It was a season defined by four overtime wins, good.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Snap kick by Casey's on the way up, up, up,
and God, it's God and the Panthers are pulling out.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
And overtime late game comebacks.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Dolone takes the snap and this is over.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The Carolina Panthers with a stunning comfort behind final minute
win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Personal hardships just.
Speaker 11 (06:42):
A few weeks earlier, you announced it one of your
starting linebackers as cancer, and here, just a couple of
weeks later, your linebackers gotch has cancer, and you're thinking,
Holy cal there're things more important than football.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Soul defining moments.
Speaker 12 (06:56):
All you can do with adversity and obstacles and difficulty
is just to keep going along, do what you do.
It's like you just got to keep pounding and.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
At times improbable saviors.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jake Dellon in a quarterback for Carolina, here's then back to
throw looks, looks, fires for prowling, the ends on.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Hey God, that's done.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
But belief never blinked in the face of adversity. Hope
always floated. Defensive lineman Al Wallace.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We were a ragtag bunch of guys that did not
know we belonged to any of those games, so we
were playing with house money. We just didn't know that
we weren't supposed to hang with some of these teams
that we faced. And we fought and we scrapped, and
we believe John Fox. We believed in each other.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
But in this season, hope was more than a metaphor.
Hope was real. Panthers offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (07:52):
Hope Stout was a legend, a Panther legend. She was
a twelve year old girl at the time that I
was able to come across when I was that a
Panther game getting warmed up for the game, and she
was on the sideline and had a chance to meet
her and meet her father and come to find out
that she had osteo sarcoma.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Hope Stout was diagnosed with osteo sarcoma, a type of
bone cancer, in the summer of two thousand and three.
By November, the cancer had spread and Hope had been
confined to a wheelchair.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
It wasn't that that really made me bond with her
so quick. It was just her love of the Panthers,
and that's why I call her a Panther legend. She
was there for the game. She wasn't worried about her health,
but Richardson family had given them a suite to sit in,
and she was a twelve year old that was way
beyond her her age because she's talking football with me
like a thirty five year old fan.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Riley Fields is the Panther's longtime director of community Relations.
Speaker 13 (08:47):
It really wasn't until December, when she called in to
the Keith Larson Show in an interview that if you
hear it and it does not move you, I don't
know what moves you as an individual.
Speaker 14 (09:05):
All Right, Keith Larson here, and we have on the
phone with us twelve year old girl who had a
big idea this, Hope Stout was given the opportunity to
have a wish fulfilled by the Make a Wish people,
(09:27):
and she said, I want to fulfill the wishes of
the other people on your list, of the other kids
on your list. Basically an amazing story, and the Make
a Wish people have decided that they're going to go
ahead and do that. And in reading about this this
morning and actually having been aware to some extent of
Hope previously, we just said, hey, it sure seems like
Charlotte ought to be able to come up with this
(09:48):
million bucks, as insane a thought as it is.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, maybe even by Christmas.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
So that's the story.
Speaker 14 (09:54):
And Hope Stouts on the phone.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Hello, Hope, Hello, how are you well.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
I'm I'm doing fine.
Speaker 14 (10:01):
I'm doing fine. Thank you for being with us on
WBT today.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 14 (10:06):
Where did this thought come from?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Well, it just came from being in the hospital and
getting my treatments, and I just saw all these other
kids and they just seemed so happy in there, and
they just didn't know what was going on. They were
just running around with their little ivy polls and stuff.
And then I found out that some of them aren't
(10:29):
nearly as lucky as me, because I had my parents
there by me twenty four to seven, and some of
them didn't have their parents there because they lived in
another state or something. And all they're just asking is
just to meet Ronald McDonald or just go on a
cruise or something, and it just seemed so easy to do,
(10:50):
and it just broke my heart that some kids don't
get the chance to do all this great stuff because
I have that opportunity to go to like came tun
or something, and some of these kids dis asked for
so little and they might not even have the chance
to get it. And I just had to do something
about that. I just couldn't live with myself knowing that
(11:13):
little kids just asking for so little and maybe not
getting the chance to get in.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
Hope's wish was to grant the wishes of the other
one hundred and fifty five kids on the waiting list.
The cost of that would be close to a million dollars.
Speaker 12 (11:29):
Just by that one radio broadcast was able to reach
so much of Charlotte. People jumped on board from all
over the place. And one of the coolest parts about
it was with her age, you know, doing bakathons and
walkathons and whatever they could do to raise money, and
so many of these gifts were coming in that were
just really low amounts, but some of them all totaling
up because all the people backing and getting behind it
(11:51):
really gave us a jump start of trying to reach
that million dollar goal.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
In the playoff opener against Dallas, ABC reporter Lisa Guerrero
tookpe story National check.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
In with Lisa Garera. Lisa, thanks very much. Al Well.
Speaker 15 (12:05):
Panthers A white guard, Kevin Donnelly was very much looking
forward to the spotlight of tonight's game, not for himself,
not for his teammates, but for a twelve year old
girl by the name of Hope Stout. He met her
earlier this season. She's in battling a rare form of
bone cancer and has become an inspiration to him. Here's
an example of her selflessness. When the Make a Wish
(12:27):
Foundation asked her what she would like granted, she said
she wanted the wishes granted of the other one hundred
and fifty five children battling life threatening illnesses in this region.
The cost about one million dollars. Donnelly wants to help
her raise it. So far they've raised about four hundred
thousand dollars. For information on how you can help, you
can contact the Caroline of.
Speaker 12 (12:47):
Panthers was such a full circle moment because you know,
originally she wanted to be in the spotlight and have
some fame, if you will, but she put that all
aside her wants and needs for others and ultimately came
back around where she got her story told nationally frantic
to the world, and it just it was an amazing moment.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Director of Community Relations Riley Fields.
Speaker 13 (13:10):
The way this community embraced Hope and how she was
inspirational for our locker room and had personal connections to
our locker room was a part of that fairy dust.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
Hope's prognosis worsened, the prospects of fulfilling her wish grew brighter.
Hope ed helped plan to Gala scheduled a few weeks
after the playoff opener against Dallas.
Speaker 13 (13:37):
It was Hope's event. She had been planning this and
it was a Hollywood theme and a red carpet theme.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
But on the day after the playoff win against the Cowboys,
Hope Stout passed away. Kevin Donnelly remembers.
Speaker 12 (13:54):
I'd known that she was getting close and in close
contact with Stuart and Shelby Stout, her wonderful parents, and
they were keeping me updated on everything and had gone
to midnight vigil that they were a candlelit vigil. I
should say that they had at the house there just
(14:15):
days before the game we were gonna play before Dallas.
But I knew when I was tired from the season,
I was, you know, playoffs were coming. It was an
important game, but I just had to be there, and
so it really hit me then. I mean I broke
down in tears. But I think in some way that
moment and knowing that Hope was in that second floor bedroom,
(14:36):
still battling and holding on it gave me comfort. Then
when I did hear the news and it felt like,
you know, she came here. It was a short time,
but she accomplished so much.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
Hope's impact would continue to be felt. The gala would
go on as planned, two days before the NFC Championship
at the Weston Hotel in Charlotte. More than one thousand
people attended the celebration of Hope. The goal was to
raise a million dollars and grant the wish of every
(15:10):
child on the Make a Wish Foundation's waiting list.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
We're gonna sell this right now. With's her.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I've got him at fifteen thousand. Kevin says, you'll give
another one if you'll go fifteen thousand two.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, thirty thousand dollars here and I go ahead.
Speaker 15 (15:29):
We just got the updated total and as you know,
the goal was.
Speaker 16 (15:32):
One million dollars, and then.
Speaker 15 (15:34):
Four weeks, Make a Wish had raised one million, one
hundred and sixteen thousand dollars in Hope's name and they're
still counting.
Speaker 13 (15:43):
That night, the community came together and the moment when
it was revealed that the million dollar mark had been crested,
I mean, the entire ballroom was just everyone was crying,
but it was it was joyful. It was sadness. There's
(16:04):
so much emotion that was built up, but knowing that
her wish had been fulfilled, and Kevin and the other
offensive linemen they were at the event, they supported, you
know what, what the Stout family was going through, and
it really created a it's a it's a special bond,
(16:24):
and it's it's a it will always be a special
part of this organization because the team's rocket ship ride
through December, through the playoffs into the super Bowl was
really in lockstep with the community embracing Hope, her story
and trying to help her wish come true to help others.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Two days after the Gala, armed with Hope, belief and
the NFL's best defense, the Panthers took aim at Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Carolina Panther play Off Football.
It's the third postseason game for the Panthers, and as
the case is, in the postseason, they get bigger and bigger,
and tonight the winner gets to go to Houston in
two weeks to play the New England Patriots and the
Super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
The game time temperature was thirty three degrees with a
wind chill of twenty two, perfect conditions for John fox Well.
Speaker 9 (17:30):
I just want to sporting game and do that. Got
down and run the ball and play defense. And you know,
and it's tough nature. You know, we're gonna bringing big
boy pads and we're gonna show them what toughness is.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
McNab again is back to pass. He drop sets up Paul.
Here's a sack.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
Back to the past.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
McNab and they got him for a set other.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Bls is coming sack to midfield.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
While Carolina's defense set the tone, it was Musin Mohammad
that quieted the vaunted Philly c along back.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
To throw looks, looks, nobody opened. He's a downfield for
Muhammed and the hands up he got it.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Touchdown. What a great catch. Buy must send Mohammed.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
After Mohammed's touchdown, he got down on one knee, raised
one finger to his face mask, and made the universal
sign for silence, a moment that would later adorn the
cover of Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 17 (18:24):
People ask me, man, did you know right where the
camera guy was or something where you've no? I really didn't.
I think they found me. It wasn't hard to find
out there in the middle of the field. And you know,
that cold January.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Day after the shush by Moose, Philly fans lost much
of the remaining mojo When Star quarterback Downovan McNabb took
a major hit.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
First and ten Philly at the Carolina twenty three yard line.
Banfers are showing what's it here? They come go yeah,
be sacked. They brought him down back of the thirty
three yard line.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
I think McNabb has hurt.
Speaker 18 (18:55):
Donovan McNabb gets tackled and some audio on our team
falls on and he cracks are real, and I'll be
honest with you, the air went out the building.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Carolina led seven to three late in the first half
when the Eagles got close.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
To midfield, and the Eagles are now faced with a
third down coming up third and seven from their forty
three no huddle, mcnah here comes up.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
What's my cousin? Floats it down field Manning, then he
pick it off.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
He dad, Ricky Manning, what a beautiful play?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Come on, man, Yeah, dump dead.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Get that. Veteran Mike Mintor had to become a mentor
to rookie Ricky Manning during the two thousand and three season.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Well, it's a big brother, all right.
Speaker 19 (19:39):
You know, seven years in the league and I've done it,
and you've seen a lot and most rookies don't know
the game and so you know, that's what I.
Speaker 16 (19:51):
Will just tell him. Man just listen to what I
what I'm about to tell you, and then go make
that play. Because I mean, he was talented. It's just
rookies don't have the information or the knowledge.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
The week prior, it was Manning's interception that set up
the game winning touchdown in Saint Louis in Philadelphia, on
a day when the Panthers leading receiver only had three catches,
Manning equaled that total. While playing defense, they.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Have short drop looks. It's a slam.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Manning picks that off Ricky Manning McNabb in the pocket.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Twenty a time down the middle of the field of goals.
It's pattered in the airs, picked off by Ricky Manning.
Ricky Manning coming back the other way, he's to the
thirty seventy yard line. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Mike Minner laid out the receivers, the vault got there
and the ball floated.
Speaker 10 (20:43):
In the air.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
There was Ricky Manning.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
With three interceptions today. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 16 (20:49):
We're looking at McNabb. Things he liked to throw, and
we just knew that they didn't tow the ball out.
Speaker 12 (20:55):
And he always want to break eath.
Speaker 16 (20:59):
And so that that was a tail town man. We've
beating them up for.
Speaker 9 (21:03):
A guy in his rookie year to have three picks
in the championship game. I mean, I don't know how
many times, if any, that's ever happened. He was mature
for his age, you know, as far as how he prepared.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Panthers radio analyst Eugene Robinson, he.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
Was a really good quarter that you gotta have really
good feet. You've gotta have good feet, you've gotta have
good hands, and Ricky had a combination of both.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
He could catch the ball.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
The Panthers defense spared its teeth all night. They finished
with five sacks and four interceptions. Still, it was a
seven to three game until late in the third first and.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Goal Carolina from Malwana.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Philly Hoover emotional right pitch to Foster trying to turn
the fireside gets over. Hoover bounce us off a tackle,
still keeps the legs turning.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Ten times towards the ends up touchdown.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Oh my goodness, DeShawn Foster on a play that took
a minute and a half, I was able to get
into the end zone as he kept stretching it outside
bouncing off tacklers and he gets a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
He just kept the.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Legs go and bounce it after one defender after another.
I mean, just he refused to go down fourteen to three.
Felt huge in that moment, like is this really happening?
Is this team really not too many minutes away from
getting to their for Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Just the effort Foster Hoover, the offensive line. That's why
this team.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Was so good. That's why they made it to the
Super Bowl. And Delone takes a knee and guess what.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The improbable season for the Carolina Panthers continues. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
We're going to Houston in.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Two weeks to play the New England Patriots for the
championship of the National Football League.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
When the Panthers arrived back in Charlotte in the wee
hours of the morning, a hero's welcome awaited.
Speaker 10 (22:55):
It blew my mind. How many fans were at the
stadium when we got home that night, Like it was
absolutely crazy, how excited.
Speaker 12 (23:02):
People were that we were going to Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
The crowd was electric. A few thousand people jammed into
the middle of town. You know, this is not a
wine and cheese crowd.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
These are avid.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
Fans, and when things are going well, you have their
unbridled support and attention.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
It was insane.
Speaker 18 (23:19):
I'll never forget watching grown men cry like Kevin Donnelly
and he knew that was probably his last year, but
seeing him when we're going to take a knee and
just just seeing those emotions, and like Chris Mangham, that draft,
seventh round, they're drafted here, still here, you know, was
in essence a backup tied end getting an opportunity to start.
And it was, you know, a cast off Ricky Prol
(23:41):
nobody wanted him anymore, a little sought off third round
receiver that everybody thought was a special teamer. And Steve Smith,
you know, Stephen Davis. It just kind of one of
those deals, and yeah, man, it was. It was fabulous.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
The Carolina Panthers were in the Super Bowl. One hundred
and fifty five children, their wishes fulfilled against stack dogs.
Hope prevail,
Previously uncodiac.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome back to Ericson Stadium and many of the fans
still here savoring the moments. The Carolina Panthers beating the
Dallas Cowboys twenty nine to ten at advancing in the
NFC playoffs. It'll be on to Saint Louis next Saturday
to take on the Rams. Flits again coming to Lope pumps,
(00:25):
he's got time, throws.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Down field, swim at the forty five to the forty.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I thought it's right, any ten five touchdown.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Touchdown Steve Smith, and we.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
Are going to the NFC Championship Game.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Now it's getting real. I mean, you beat the Dallas
Cowboys pretty handily. You've beat the team at some most
I would say not was the favorite to win the
Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
You knock them out in the next round.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
So you're walking out of there knowing you've got to
go on the road play a great Philadelphia team in
the NFC title game. That is going to be very difficult.
But now it's like you've won a game that nobody
thought you were going to win, so nothing seems too
big in that moment.
Speaker 6 (01:08):
The city of Philadelphia draws its name from two Greek
words billyo, meaning to love, and Adelphos meaning brother. However,
former Panthers player turned broadcaster Eugene Robinson knew all too
well that fraternal love was elusive for outsiders fans.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
Man A fans don't like you, do you know where
you stand? What Philly fans do. They don't like you.
They love their team and they don't like you. Even
when we would play Philadelphia and I'm as a broadcaster,
I would never fly my colors that I'm wearing. I
never wore like Panther gear at all, never did not
in Philly.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski says in Philadelphia apparel,
who would not reveal outside allegiance.
Speaker 8 (01:57):
Leading up to go in to Philadelphia. The people, the Panthers' organization,
a lot of staffers go into the game, and they
were told not to wear any Panther shirts, you know, sweatshirts,
because you didn't know what the Philly fans were gonna do.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
Longtime Panthers broadcaster Jim Zochi we went into one of
the downtown sports bars and we had eight to ten
of us there, and we walk in and somebody yells
from across the crowded bar.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Get the heck out of here, I'll insert heck, it's
loud in there. So we turn around and kind of
like smile, I'm not kidding, get the heck out of here.
And I think it was the bartender. It was not
a patriot. We go in there, and now we feel
like we might get into a street fight in this
bar just for walking in in Panther gigs. They think
we're Panther fans visiting to go sit in the stands
(02:42):
and be part of the game. We finally muster up
the energy and gumption to sit down in the middle
of this crowded bar, and one are the tables talking
next to us, starts kind of joking around and laughing
and whatever, and then they figure out somewhere in the
conversation we're the Panthers broadcast crew. And next thing after
again they had lost the two previous NFC title games, like, Hey.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
You think we can beat you guys?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
You guys are really good, right, Like all of a sudden,
their tone changed because they knew, like, we're kind of
like insiders that and have a little bit more on
the ball than just being like they're rising some.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
Fans here Panthers head coach John Fox had spent the
previous five seasons in the NFC East as the Giants
defensive coordinator. Fox knew exactly what to expect in Philadelphia.
Speaker 9 (03:24):
Anytime you travel in the NFL, you got to take
a road warrior mindset. And that's there's nobody rooting for
us there. It's just who we got right here. You know,
some places are tougher to player than others, and you know,
Philly is one of those places where they're throwing stuff
at you when you walk through the tunnel, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Know they hate you.
Speaker 6 (03:42):
Before the game with the Eagles, Jordan Gross and the
players saw birds of a different father.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
I mean, wait, pull in.
Speaker 10 (03:51):
It had been snowing recently, and so the fans were
just pelting us with snowballs like crazy, like just knocking
the heck out of our us with snowballs. And I'll
never forget this, Like an old grandma, I mean, gray haired,
old lady double middle finger, just flipping us off as
we pulled into the stadium, and I just was laughing, thinking,
this is pretty dang cool that their fans care this much.
(04:13):
What an environment.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
While the players took the bus to the stadium. Jim
Zoki and the broadcast crew chose to ride with the locals.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
We take a train to go down to the game
from the hotel. I'm thinking in my head, I am
not gonna wear my Panther gear to go into this
underground subway train station, just because I don't.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Want the hassle.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I don't want to talk, so I wear just a
generic black coat, no hat. Nobody's wearing Panther gear. There's
a guy down there selling Philadelphia Eagles gear. Everybody's going
to the game. The destination of this train is to
the game. They're all head to toe wearing Eagles gear.
And he walks by hat, some beads, hat, some beads.
Get your Eagles hat, some beads, and he walks past us, stops,
(04:54):
turns around, walks back to us, and goes I smell cat.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
Before the game, I'm in the press box and one
of the Philly Riders came up to me. He said,
you have to play by play guy, right, I said yeah,
and he looked at me dead serious. He said, you
honestly think that the Panthers can win this game today?
And I looked at him and I said, I said yeah,
I said, if you looked at our season, you know
this team, somehow, Someway, starting with the first game, has
(05:24):
found a way in big moments to win football games.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
I said, definitely, Yes, Fyer's patrolling the.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Ends up, Hey, God, touchdown, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
He's gone, and.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Ice Tortianza touchdown. Buyer's over the medal? Is that intercepted? Yes,
it is up, it is gone. Panthers have won in
and over times, head the forty five to.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The forty and going's right the honey Den touchdown. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Cardiac.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
The Panthers' journey to the NFC Championship was a roller
coaster ride. It was a season defined by four overtime wins, good.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Snap kick by Casey's on the way up, up, up,
and God, it's God and the Panthers are pulling out.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
And overtime late game comebacks.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Dolone takes the snap and this is over.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The Carolina Panthers with a stunning comfort behind final minute
win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Personal hardships just.
Speaker 11 (06:42):
A few weeks earlier, you announced it one of your
starting linebackers as cancer, and here, just a couple of
weeks later, your linebackers gotch has cancer, and you're thinking,
Holy cal there're things more important than football.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Soul defining moments.
Speaker 12 (06:56):
All you can do with adversity and obstacles and difficulty
is just to keep going along, do what you do.
It's like you just got to keep pounding and.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
At times improbable saviors.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jake Dellon in a quarterback for Carolina, here's then back to
throw looks, looks, fires for prowling, the ends on.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Hey God, that's done.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
But belief never blinked in the face of adversity. Hope
always floated. Defensive lineman Al Wallace.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We were a ragtag bunch of guys that did not
know we belonged to any of those games, so we
were playing with house money. We just didn't know that
we weren't supposed to hang with some of these teams
that we faced. And we fought and we scrapped, and
we believe John Fox. We believed in each other.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
But in this season, hope was more than a metaphor.
Hope was real. Panthers offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (07:52):
Hope Stout was a legend, a Panther legend. She was
a twelve year old girl at the time that I
was able to come across when I was that a
Panther game getting warmed up for the game, and she
was on the sideline and had a chance to meet
her and meet her father and come to find out
that she had osteo sarcoma.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Hope Stout was diagnosed with osteo sarcoma, a type of
bone cancer, in the summer of two thousand and three.
By November, the cancer had spread and Hope had been
confined to a wheelchair.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
It wasn't that that really made me bond with her
so quick. It was just her love of the Panthers,
and that's why I call her a Panther legend. She
was there for the game. She wasn't worried about her health,
but Richardson family had given them a suite to sit in,
and she was a twelve year old that was way
beyond her her age because she's talking football with me
like a thirty five year old fan.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Riley Fields is the Panther's longtime director of community Relations.
Speaker 13 (08:47):
It really wasn't until December, when she called in to
the Keith Larson Show in an interview that if you
hear it and it does not move you, I don't
know what moves you as an individual.
Speaker 14 (09:05):
All Right, Keith Larson here, and we have on the
phone with us twelve year old girl who had a
big idea this, Hope Stout was given the opportunity to
have a wish fulfilled by the Make a Wish people,
(09:27):
and she said, I want to fulfill the wishes of
the other people on your list, of the other kids
on your list. Basically an amazing story, and the Make
a Wish people have decided that they're going to go
ahead and do that. And in reading about this this
morning and actually having been aware to some extent of
Hope previously, we just said, hey, it sure seems like
Charlotte ought to be able to come up with this
(09:48):
million bucks, as insane a thought as it is.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, maybe even by Christmas.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
So that's the story.
Speaker 14 (09:54):
And Hope Stouts on the phone.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Hello, Hope, Hello, how are you well.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
I'm I'm doing fine.
Speaker 14 (10:01):
I'm doing fine. Thank you for being with us on
WBT today.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 14 (10:06):
Where did this thought come from?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Well, it just came from being in the hospital and
getting my treatments, and I just saw all these other
kids and they just seemed so happy in there, and
they just didn't know what was going on. They were
just running around with their little ivy polls and stuff.
And then I found out that some of them aren't
(10:29):
nearly as lucky as me, because I had my parents
there by me twenty four to seven, and some of
them didn't have their parents there because they lived in
another state or something. And all they're just asking is
just to meet Ronald McDonald or just go on a
cruise or something, and it just seemed so easy to do,
(10:50):
and it just broke my heart that some kids don't
get the chance to do all this great stuff because
I have that opportunity to go to like came tun
or something, and some of these kids dis asked for
so little and they might not even have the chance
to get it. And I just had to do something
about that. I just couldn't live with myself knowing that
(11:13):
little kids just asking for so little and maybe not
getting the chance to get in.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
Hope's wish was to grant the wishes of the other
one hundred and fifty five kids on the waiting list.
The cost of that would be close to a million dollars.
Speaker 12 (11:29):
Just by that one radio broadcast was able to reach
so much of Charlotte. People jumped on board from all
over the place. And one of the coolest parts about
it was with her age, you know, doing bakathons and
walkathons and whatever they could do to raise money, and
so many of these gifts were coming in that were
just really low amounts, but some of them all totaling
up because all the people backing and getting behind it
(11:51):
really gave us a jump start of trying to reach
that million dollar goal.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
In the playoff opener against Dallas, ABC reporter Lisa Guerrero
tookpe story National check.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
In with Lisa Garera. Lisa, thanks very much. Al Well.
Speaker 15 (12:05):
Panthers A white guard, Kevin Donnelly was very much looking
forward to the spotlight of tonight's game, not for himself,
not for his teammates, but for a twelve year old
girl by the name of Hope Stout. He met her
earlier this season. She's in battling a rare form of
bone cancer and has become an inspiration to him. Here's
an example of her selflessness. When the Make a Wish
(12:27):
Foundation asked her what she would like granted, she said
she wanted the wishes granted of the other one hundred
and fifty five children battling life threatening illnesses in this region.
The cost about one million dollars. Donnelly wants to help
her raise it. So far they've raised about four hundred
thousand dollars. For information on how you can help, you
can contact the Caroline of.
Speaker 12 (12:47):
Panthers was such a full circle moment because you know,
originally she wanted to be in the spotlight and have
some fame, if you will, but she put that all
aside her wants and needs for others and ultimately came
back around where she got her story told nationally frantic
to the world, and it just it was an amazing moment.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Director of Community Relations Riley Fields.
Speaker 13 (13:10):
The way this community embraced Hope and how she was
inspirational for our locker room and had personal connections to
our locker room was a part of that fairy dust.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
Hope's prognosis worsened, the prospects of fulfilling her wish grew brighter.
Hope ed helped plan to Gala scheduled a few weeks
after the playoff opener against Dallas.
Speaker 13 (13:37):
It was Hope's event. She had been planning this and
it was a Hollywood theme and a red carpet theme.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
But on the day after the playoff win against the Cowboys,
Hope Stout passed away. Kevin Donnelly remembers.
Speaker 12 (13:54):
I'd known that she was getting close and in close
contact with Stuart and Shelby Stout, her wonderful parents, and
they were keeping me updated on everything and had gone
to midnight vigil that they were a candlelit vigil. I
should say that they had at the house there just
(14:15):
days before the game we were gonna play before Dallas.
But I knew when I was tired from the season,
I was, you know, playoffs were coming. It was an
important game, but I just had to be there, and
so it really hit me then. I mean I broke
down in tears. But I think in some way that
moment and knowing that Hope was in that second floor bedroom,
(14:36):
still battling and holding on it gave me comfort. Then
when I did hear the news and it felt like,
you know, she came here. It was a short time,
but she accomplished so much.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
Hope's impact would continue to be felt. The gala would
go on as planned, two days before the NFC Championship
at the Weston Hotel in Charlotte. More than one thousand
people attended the celebration of Hope. The goal was to
raise a million dollars and grant the wish of every
(15:10):
child on the Make a Wish Foundation's waiting list.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
We're gonna sell this right now. With's her.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I've got him at fifteen thousand. Kevin says, you'll give
another one if you'll go fifteen thousand two.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, thirty thousand dollars here and I go ahead.
Speaker 15 (15:29):
We just got the updated total and as you know,
the goal was.
Speaker 16 (15:32):
One million dollars, and then.
Speaker 15 (15:34):
Four weeks, Make a Wish had raised one million, one
hundred and sixteen thousand dollars in Hope's name and they're
still counting.
Speaker 13 (15:43):
That night, the community came together and the moment when
it was revealed that the million dollar mark had been crested,
I mean, the entire ballroom was just everyone was crying,
but it was it was joyful. It was sadness. There's
(16:04):
so much emotion that was built up, but knowing that
her wish had been fulfilled, and Kevin and the other
offensive linemen they were at the event, they supported, you
know what, what the Stout family was going through, and
it really created a it's a it's a special bond,
(16:24):
and it's it's a it will always be a special
part of this organization because the team's rocket ship ride
through December, through the playoffs into the super Bowl was
really in lockstep with the community embracing Hope, her story
and trying to help her wish come true to help others.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Two days after the Gala, armed with Hope, belief and
the NFL's best defense, the Panthers took aim at Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Carolina Panther play Off Football.
It's the third postseason game for the Panthers, and as
the case is, in the postseason, they get bigger and bigger,
and tonight the winner gets to go to Houston in
two weeks to play the New England Patriots and the
Super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
The game time temperature was thirty three degrees with a
wind chill of twenty two, perfect conditions for John fox Well.
Speaker 9 (17:30):
I just want to sporting game and do that. Got
down and run the ball and play defense. And you know,
and it's tough nature. You know, we're gonna bringing big
boy pads and we're gonna show them what toughness is.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
McNab again is back to pass. He drop sets up Paul.
Here's a sack.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
Back to the past.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
McNab and they got him for a set other.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Bls is coming sack to midfield.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
While Carolina's defense set the tone, it was Musin Mohammad
that quieted the vaunted Philly c along back.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
To throw looks, looks, nobody opened. He's a downfield for
Muhammed and the hands up he got it.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Touchdown. What a great catch. Buy must send Mohammed.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
After Mohammed's touchdown, he got down on one knee, raised
one finger to his face mask, and made the universal
sign for silence, a moment that would later adorn the
cover of Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 17 (18:24):
People ask me, man, did you know right where the
camera guy was or something where you've no? I really didn't.
I think they found me. It wasn't hard to find
out there in the middle of the field. And you know,
that cold January.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Day after the shush by Moose, Philly fans lost much
of the remaining mojo When Star quarterback Downovan McNabb took
a major hit.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
First and ten Philly at the Carolina twenty three yard line.
Banfers are showing what's it here? They come go yeah,
be sacked. They brought him down back of the thirty
three yard line.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
I think McNabb has hurt.
Speaker 18 (18:55):
Donovan McNabb gets tackled and some audio on our team
falls on and he cracks are real, and I'll be
honest with you, the air went out the building.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Carolina led seven to three late in the first half
when the Eagles got close.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
To midfield, and the Eagles are now faced with a
third down coming up third and seven from their forty
three no huddle, mcnah here comes up.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
What's my cousin? Floats it down field Manning, then he
pick it off.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
He dad, Ricky Manning, what a beautiful play?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Come on, man, Yeah, dump dead.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Get that. Veteran Mike Mintor had to become a mentor
to rookie Ricky Manning during the two thousand and three season.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Well, it's a big brother, all right.
Speaker 19 (19:39):
You know, seven years in the league and I've done it,
and you've seen a lot and most rookies don't know
the game and so you know, that's what I.
Speaker 16 (19:51):
Will just tell him. Man just listen to what I
what I'm about to tell you, and then go make
that play. Because I mean, he was talented. It's just
rookies don't have the information or the knowledge.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
The week prior, it was Manning's interception that set up
the game winning touchdown in Saint Louis in Philadelphia, on
a day when the Panthers leading receiver only had three catches,
Manning equaled that total. While playing defense, they.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Have short drop looks. It's a slam.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Manning picks that off Ricky Manning McNabb in the pocket.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Twenty a time down the middle of the field of goals.
It's pattered in the airs, picked off by Ricky Manning.
Ricky Manning coming back the other way, he's to the
thirty seventy yard line. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Mike Minner laid out the receivers, the vault got there
and the ball floated.
Speaker 10 (20:43):
In the air.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
There was Ricky Manning.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
With three interceptions today. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 16 (20:49):
We're looking at McNabb. Things he liked to throw, and
we just knew that they didn't tow the ball out.
Speaker 12 (20:55):
And he always want to break eath.
Speaker 16 (20:59):
And so that that was a tail town man. We've
beating them up for.
Speaker 9 (21:03):
A guy in his rookie year to have three picks
in the championship game. I mean, I don't know how
many times, if any, that's ever happened. He was mature
for his age, you know, as far as how he prepared.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Panthers radio analyst Eugene Robinson, he.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
Was a really good quarter that you gotta have really
good feet. You've gotta have good feet, you've gotta have
good hands, and Ricky had a combination of both.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
He could catch the ball.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
The Panthers defense spared its teeth all night. They finished
with five sacks and four interceptions. Still, it was a
seven to three game until late in the third first and.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Goal Carolina from Malwana.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Philly Hoover emotional right pitch to Foster trying to turn
the fireside gets over. Hoover bounce us off a tackle,
still keeps the legs turning.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Ten times towards the ends up touchdown.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Oh my goodness, DeShawn Foster on a play that took
a minute and a half, I was able to get
into the end zone as he kept stretching it outside
bouncing off tacklers and he gets a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
He just kept the.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Legs go and bounce it after one defender after another.
I mean, just he refused to go down fourteen to three.
Felt huge in that moment, like is this really happening?
Is this team really not too many minutes away from
getting to their for Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Just the effort Foster Hoover, the offensive line. That's why
this team.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Was so good. That's why they made it to the
Super Bowl. And Delone takes a knee and guess what.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The improbable season for the Carolina Panthers continues. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
We're going to Houston in.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Two weeks to play the New England Patriots for the
championship of the National Football League.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
When the Panthers arrived back in Charlotte in the wee
hours of the morning, a hero's welcome awaited.
Speaker 10 (22:55):
It blew my mind. How many fans were at the
stadium when we got home that night, Like it was
absolutely crazy, how excited.
Speaker 12 (23:02):
People were that we were going to Super Bowl.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
The crowd was electric. A few thousand people jammed into
the middle of town. You know, this is not a
wine and cheese crowd.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
These are avid.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
Fans, and when things are going well, you have their
unbridled support and attention.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
It was insane.
Speaker 18 (23:19):
I'll never forget watching grown men cry like Kevin Donnelly
and he knew that was probably his last year, but
seeing him when we're going to take a knee and
just just seeing those emotions, and like Chris Mangham, that draft,
seventh round, they're drafted here, still here, you know, was
in essence a backup tied end getting an opportunity to start.
And it was, you know, a cast off Ricky Prol
(23:41):
nobody wanted him anymore, a little sought off third round
receiver that everybody thought was a special teamer. And Steve Smith,
you know, Stephen Davis. It just kind of one of
those deals, and yeah, man, it was. It was fabulous.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
The Carolina Panthers were in the Super Bowl. One hundred
and fifty five children, their wishes fulfilled against stack dogs.
Hope prevail,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!