Ran originally in Sunday’s March 1 editions of The Times and The News-Star.

Several months ago my friend Chief handed me an envelope, on it the return address of Mt. Mariah United Methodist Church in Athens, there on Mask Road hard by Highway 9 in Claiborne Parish.

I looked at it and could almost smell the friend chicken in Tupperware and taste the bowls of potato salad set on folding tables at a springtime dinner on the ground.

When the envelope had been handed to Chief a few days before, in it was a check. Made out to him. Or, if we want to get technical, to his prostate.

Chief, well thought of by the good people of Mt. Mariah United Methodist Church, had been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Caught early.

His mission now was to drive his prostate from his retirement residence in Arcadia to the hospital in Shreveport every weekday for nine weeks. He’d get a treatment each early morning, go home, and report to the hospital the next morning for another round.

The money in the envelope from the small but hearty congregation of the Mt. Mariah United Methodist Church — Athens is rural like dirt is old — was for gas money (practically) and for a pat on the back (symbolically). There were no strings attached.

It was also an exclamation point on the “we will be praying for you” understanding between Chief and the congregation, which is no small thing. It might be the biggest of things. Goes a lot farther than $500, but sometimes it’s handy to have the cash in hand while the prayers are ongoing.

“How can I thank them?” Chief said. We were sitting in his truck, long ago bought and paid for.

My expression must have told him I had no idea why he was asking. I looked like a guy who, out of the blue, had just been asked to do a handstand or a card trick.

“Maybe you can write something about baseball,” he said. “You know, how this relates to that.”

Somehow, it all comes back to baseball for Chief. He has been retired a while now from a 30-year career as the trainer and equipment manager for Louisiana Tech, which is how I met him one awkward but now glorious day nearly 42 summers ago. It is hard to explain Chief precisely but … well …

It was July 1977 when the phone rang in the dugout of either the Astrodome or Dodger Stadium, can’t remember which. A Saturday afternoon. The call was for Chief, at the time the equipment manager for the Houston Astros.

Chief took the call. It was one of his best friends offering him the job in Ruston.

“Can I call you back?” Chief said. “We’re playing the Dodgers and we’re on national TV. I probably need to get off the phone.”

And his whole life’s sort of been like that. Funny. Lucky. Playful.

The great news here is that Chief has completed his treatments, has some air under him now, and is doing well. I can’t really help him thank Mt. Mariah United Methodist Church, which I’m sure he did magnificently the moment they offered the gift and, besides, his thanks is not why they did it anyway. But maybe there are some lessons I can get out of this. Chief has always been good about illustrating things for me without his knowing it.

You win some, you lose some, but you dress out for all of them: It took some doing, but Chief rested as much as he could and never missed any of those first pitches at the hospital. Seventy percent of life is 90 percent just showing up … or something like that.

Take early BP if you need it: There was a rod involved in the treatment, and they have to get that rod in a position to zap with medicine the ailing part inside you. Chief said you could always tell “when they put the rod in and when they took it out.” Matter of fact he was, and it makes me wince when I think of it but there you go. Chief doesn’t sugarcoat stuff. The point is, bat first so you get that fresh, first rod of the day. He told me this same thing before my colonoscopy; handy information.

Be the teammate you want others to be: Don’t be “that guy.” Show up for treatment. (Good job Chief!) Keep your gear clean. And quit thinking so much: you’re hurting the team. Just do the next right thing.

Don’t make the first or last out of the inning at third: Patience. Be smart. Chief kept going for checkups regularly and that’s how his situation was detected early. Give your team its best chance to win.

Be grateful you’ve got a jersey: A grateful attitude for existence will get us all down the road a good ways; we all could get cut tomorrow so … Meanwhile, we’re lucky if we get to be on a squad like the one at Mt. Mariah United Methodist Church.

Finally,

If you’re pitching, don’t give in; and if you’re hitting, go down swinging.

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