CHAMPIONS OF LIFE
David Glover and his wife, Cyndy, have both beaten cancer
After overcoming health issues, OSSAA's assistant director and his wife have become the faces of the small-school state tournaments
David Glover loves showing off the maps lining his office wall. Five identical rectangle images of Oklahoma, one for each small-school basketball classification. Thumbtacks join rubber bands to connect communities, that are adjusted throughout the high school basketball season. Glover, an Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association assistant director, joyously obsesses over his old-fashioned system to create the playoffs. The balance must be right. Each rubber band ultimately leads to the Big House. “That barn is where everybody wants to play,” Glover said. As the Class A and Class B basketball state tournaments open Thursday around the Oklahoma City metro, Glover has found new meaning in the old maps. They're a reminder of his blessings, a reminder of what he and his wife Cyndy survived the past year. Both beat cancer at the same time. David underwent a major back surgery and withstood a serious heart scare.
They have become the faces of the small-school tournaments the past six years. Cancer couldn't even keep them from their duties overlooking the OSSAA's two biggest weekends of the year. “I am lucky to be going through this with her,” David said, sitting across from Cyndy in his office last week. “With the state tournament, she helps big time because she gets it. “This game has been really good to us.” ••• David at first ignored the pain. His back was killing him. He couldn't sit comfortably. He couldn't sleep well. For nearly eight months, he held out hope it wasn't cancer. Prostate cancer, something he had beaten in 2011, had returned with a vengeance. It was eating a vertebra. As he started to seek treatment, Cyndy was diagnosed with breast cancer in July. Approaching four decades of marriage since they met as basketball players at Northwestern Oklahoma State, they were now each other's coach. Cyndy had surgery a month after her diagnosis. David waited until late August. Doctors put two rods and eight screws into his back after they removed the cancer. “Looking back, you didn't have time to digest it,” Cyndy said. “You just had to go.” But during an October radiation treatment, David's chest felt like a train was pushing through. He was diagnosed with inflammation around his heart, and doctors discovered some blockage. He was rushed into surgery. David stubbornly attempted to run the state cross country meet the day after his heart surgery. He was sent home. He lost 55 pounds. He returned to work too early, refusing to let others do his work even as he tired. “It was quite the inspiration,” OSSAA executive director David Jackson said. “Because David takes his work so seriously and he wants to do such a good job, he was almost mad at himself that he had cancer and had to go through treatments and that it would impact him being at work.” Cyndy was declared cancer free in October. David's clearance followed in November. “We're blessed,” Cyndy said. “We know heaven's way better than earth. But it's like, `How can it be any better?' We really love our life right here.” ••• There was no way to know he was a first-time father. Kylee Glover was born 5 minutes before tipoff in Okeene 35 years ago. David was coaching a game to clinch the final spot at state in Woodward before cell phones. When Okeene beat Cheyenne in overtime, David was presented a cigar and the news in front of 3,000 fans before the team's new plaque. Four days later, Kylee attended her first state tournament. That's when David truly fell in love with State Fair Arena. “Basketball has been part of our family forever,” he said. “I love watching those kids dogpile after they win that state championship, and I feel so bad because I was a coach that lost two of them.” When David was diagnosed with cancer again, he set a goal to be healthy in time to plan the basketball playoffs. He loves running cross country, tennis and golf. But nothing compares to the two weekends he spends at the baseline of the Big House hardwood floor. Since he joined the OSSAA in 2013, David has worked tirelessly to improve the experience. This year, more students will perform the National Anthem. Special Olympics teams will participate. Longtime journalists will be honored. And dreams will be lived out on the hardwood floor. “I just want it to be an event,” David said. “We're not the Thunder. We're not going to have things going on all the time. But the kids, it's their show. “I want parents to sit there and watch those kids and know how blessed they are to have their kids play this game.”