![]() The paper apologized, the death was soon confirmed, and the mourning began. The news made it to the world prematurely and awkwardly when the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News tweeted out a draft of Stabler’s obituary before verifying the story. The fight lasted until July 8, 2015, when Stabler died at a hospital in Gulfport. “In his mind,” Bush said, “he was going to beat the hell out of cancer.” Faced with his own mortality at 69, that is how he responded. ![]() For the next four months, when he had the energy, Stabler walked alone into the garage and threw punches until he couldn’t throw anymore. He had bought some boxing equipment - a speedbag and a heavy bag - and he set them up in the garage, beside a stationary bicycle. “I’m going to start working out,” he responded. On each one was the word “Everlast.” Puzzled, she called out to Stabler. In the foyer were several cardboard boxes that had been opened and strewn about. He would need three days to recover from a session before feeling like himself again. Every other week, Stabler would sit in his favorite leather chair for the chemotherapy. “We knew we were facing an uphill battle,” Bush said. There, about three miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Stabler dug in for the fight of his life. In early March, Stabler and Bush went home to Gulfport, Mississippi, where they had lived together about six years. ![]() “He told me, ‘I’m going to give it hell,’” she said. While her big brother was still on the phone, she had a “good little cry” and after gathering herself, asked what the plan was. He also called his sister, Carolyn Bishop, in Alabama, and told her of his diagnosis. Stabler told his three grown daughters, Kendra and Alexa and Marissa. “And I think that probably followed him through life.” “He didn’t want any of his teammates to ever see him in the training room,” Madden said. Madden arranged it so his star could come to the team’s facility late, after the other players had left for the night, to meet with the team’s trainer. During playing days in Oakland, Stabler never wanted teammates to see him getting injuries treated after games. When a reporter on later asked Madden why he thought his former quarterback had not mentioned it to him, Madden relayed a story. Even John Madden, the coach he once said he would play for anywhere, was never told of the colon cancer. It was rooted in a Southerner’s sense of independence and masculinity, and Stabler took it to a superstitious level. Despite being an iconic football player known for his flair, he was always a deeply private man, especially with matters of health. Not good friends, not former teammates Stabler respected, certainly no one in the media. They told no one except the closest of family. ![]() And I think that probably followed him through life.” -John Madden “He didn’t want any of his teammates to ever see him in the training room. Bush was raised Catholic, and during a silence she said to herself and to any higher deity that may exist, “Let this be a peaceful journey.” Her eyes met a jagged line off in the distance, where mountaintops joined the Arizona sky. She is an attractive woman, in her late 50s, with an olive complexion and dark hair, and as they traveled the interstate, toward both home and the unknown, she looked out the window. The way home from the doctor’s office in Phoenix took about half an hour. Bush flew to Arizona to go with him to get the results. “And he would always cancel them,” Bush said, not so much with sadness, but with the annoyed tone women can take when discussing stubborn men in their lives. She had made him numerous doctors’ appointments through the years. Bush, who works in Mississippi, told Stabler to go to the doctor, something he avoided. She now suspects it had bothered him for months. Stabler called them his “grandsnakes.” In January, he had called Kim Bush, his partner for the last 16 years of his life, and told her of a consistent pain in his stomach. He was in Phoenix, Arizona, where he had been renting a home since the fall of 2014 so he could watch his two grandsons play football for Chaparral High School. Kenny Stabler learned he had colon cancer in February.
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