It didn’t take long for Republic’s Broc Smith to fit in with Evangel basketball. “Coach Capel was phenomenal from the get-go,” said Broc’s dad, Wes Smith.
It was 2021, and Bert Capel had just been hired as head men’s basketball coach at Evangel. He wasted no time trying to bring Broc with him. “He [Broc] was my first recruit when I first got the job,” Capel said. “In my mind, he was going to be a big piece of the puzzle.”
“It felt like a match made in heaven,” Wes said.
But that summer it all changed. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” Capel said. “He had come into a workout and he was like, ‘Hey, I got a lump on my neck, but I don’t think it’s anything.'”
A few days after doctors ran tests, Broc’s mom and dad received a phone call that’s every parent’s nightmare. “About the only word I can use to describe it is devastating,” Wes said
Tests confirmed Broc had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “I was like, ‘Am I going to die? Am I going to live?’ My dad does not cry about much. He was just in tears and he said, ‘I don’t know bud.'”
“You don’t want to watch your child’s dreams fall apart right in front of you and there’s nothing you can do about it,” added Broc’s mother, Jennifer Smith.
The team felt it too. “I knew Broc a month and he already felt like family,” Capel said.
So Broc set out to beat this opponent through a long treatment plan. Finally, that plan paid off. The treatments worked and Broc was cancer free. But the next challenge was just beginning. “It felt like everything I had ever worked for was taken away from me,” Broc said.
It was January of this year and Broc couldn’t run or jump. “I shot ten threes in a row at the Republic rec center,” Broc said. “Not one hit the net and I was devastated. And I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m ever going to do this again.'”
After more than a year of working to get back, Evangel had their first home game. It was his family’s first chance to see him play in two years. “To see the smile on his face is so rewarding because I know he’s enjoying it,” Jennifer said. “He’s proud of himself.”
And he’s no longer air balling three-pointers. “They [Broc’s parents] are definitely excited,” Broc said. “But they’re not as excited as I am that’s for sure. “It’s a special moment. Something I won’t forget.”
“Those are life lessons that you can take throughout life and apply in different situations,” Jennifer said. “Whether it’s cancer or something else that’s really difficult. We know he’s going to use that throughout his life.”
