About 50 people filled the Club Room at Williams Arena last weekend for a reunion of Gopher basketball players from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jim Brewer and Ron Behagen, the former All-Americans who played on the 1972 Big Ten championship team, were there. Players like Larry Overskei, a starter on the 1969-70 Gophers that took one of UCLA’s great teams to an overtime loss at Williams Arena, was present, too. But no one in the room last Friday night was more inspiring than LeRoy Gardner who has cancer and has stopped taking chemotherapy and radiation.
LeRoy, 61, made perhaps his last visit to Williams Arena last week, the historic building where he first played for St. Paul Central in the state tournament. The 6-foot-4 Gardner had muscular legs and an aggressive style that helped Central to the state tournament consolation championship and also earned him a scholarship to Minnesota where he was a starting forward during a career that ended with the 1968-69 season.
Even as a young man LeRoy knew about adversity. As an African-American he faced racism both on and off the court. His first wife, Rene, became a cancer survivor. He worked his way through challenges during a career at the University that included teaching in the school’s General College. He also survived a life threatening crisis with his aorta.
Now he’s the victim of lung cancer, and his second wife, Claudia, is in need of a liver transplant. “Death’s not hard,” LeRoy said. “It’s living that’s hard.”
Former Gopher captains Al Nuness and Paul Presthus have been part of a support group that has taken LeRoy to his chemo appointments. Friends and family have brought comfort to LeRoy, reminding him that the most important aspect of life is to spend time with those you love.
“You don’t get strength from yourself,” LeRoy said. “You get strength from the spirit of God, and from your friends and your family, and your community. …”
With a raspy voice and weakened body, he talked about his conviction that people live on after physical death. “It’s not about faith, it’s about what I know,” he said.
So this summer LeRoy treasures his moments with those he cares about, including his four children, and seven grandchildren, and also his time on the golf course. Last week he played three times, 18-hole outings. Last year he played 65 times. Never broke 100 but he could give a you-know-what about his score.
He’s out on the course to have fun. And while playing golf and living his life, he’s an inspiration to those who know him.