Mike Whittles Inspires Victory At Spalding

By John Singleton

A little over a month after the Archbishop Spalding football team won the MIAA championship in late November 2010, Head Coach Mike Whittles began to feel a dull ache in his back. At night, the pain became so excruciating he could no longer sleep.

“I tried my right side, my left side, the recliner in the living room, even the pool table,” recalled the Severna Park resident. “I couldn’t find any relief. So we went to my doctor and started running tests.”

Multiple sonograms, CAT scans, and MRIs were performed. Each test was negative. Visits to the urologist, cardiologist and gastroenterologist ensued. They found nothing.

After a visit to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, a golf ball-size tumor wrapped around blood vessels in his pancreas was identified. Whittles was told he had stage four pancreatic cancer.

“All my dreams that week were about my funeral,” stated Whittles. “Neither my wife Diane nor I could believe it. My daughter was out of town and she’d just had a baby and I didn’t want to tell her over the phone. It was a long week.”

At Spalding High School, Dr. Michael Murphy called the football team into the chapel for a meeting. Players suspected they were going to be lectured on a discipline violation. They couldn’t have been more surprised.

“Mike’s players took the news hard,” recalled Murphy. “I told them they could make use of the chapel as a team if they ever needed it. It turned out Mike’s players prayed together for him every day until the last day of school. It’s a testament to Mike and how his players feel about him and what they have learned from him on what it means to be a man.”

It didn’t stop with chapel services. The cards, e-mails, Easter wishes and Father’s Day texts kept on coming from the Spalding community. Whittles was even given a prayer shawl.

“Lots of people say they don’t know what the world is coming to,” noted Whittles. “Those people haven’t met the kids at Spalding. I’m thankful for everything God has given me and he has prepared me for this. I believe there’s a reason this happened and from this there’s a story to be told and I’m prepared to be that messenger.”

After five weeks of chemotherapy, the tumor has shrunk to half its original size and Whittles's doctors are ecstatic. Blood tests show the cancer to be in retreat as well.

“At night I literally wrap myself in my prayer shawl,” said Whittles. “I’ve benefited greatly from all the prayers I’ve received. It’s been the biggest part of my recovery and every night I go to sleep wrapped in prayer.”

When it comes to football, Coach Whittles can already be seen on the turf field at Spalding making preparations for the fall season. He’s ready to resume his coaching duties for the defending champs in 2011.

“Mike Whittles has given so much of himself to make a difference in the lives of the players on his team. He’s taken boys and taught them what it’s like to be a man,” said Spalding Campus Minister Kathleen Mayer. “With life and football he continues to teach about facing and conquering challenges with hard work and perseverance. Mike and his team embody the Spalding motto, ‘One in Christ.’”