by JIMMY MOORE
TriCitiesSports.com August 16, 2016
CHURCH HILL –The last couple of years has had some tough times for former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr, Jr. Carr, won the 1998 Rose Bowl while leading the Wolverines to the Associated Press National Championship, was named the 1997 Walter Camp Coach of the Year and the 2011 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year.
However, Carr now has a more pressing goal that drives him outside of football, a cure that continues to elude medical personnel for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma.
His five-year-old grandson Chad passed away with DIPG 15 months after being diagnosed with the rare brain cancer and the former head coach and his son Jason head up the ChadToughFoundation in hopes of finding a cure.
“Fifty years ago if your child was diagnosed with DIPG they would tell you there was nothing they could do for you,” said Chad’s grandfather. “Here we are 50 years later and if you take your child to a doctor and they diagnose them with DIPG there’s no cure for it.”
Chad’s dad Jason said there has been a lot of research for colon cancer and breast cancer and great strides have been made but there has not been that kind of focus with the rare cancer that took his son’s life.
“We believe if we can get the money for the researchers so they can do the research that change can come,” said Jason.
“Through Chad and the incredible support we’ve had across the country we’ve been able to bring this disease to the forefront of people that can make a difference,” added the grandfather.
Carr, a Church Hill native, was recently back in his home town for the funeral of his cousin Glenda Tate’s husband Ken and his three children, Jason, Melissa (Carr) and Emily Vigo who made the trek with him.
The trip back to Tennessee was his first with all three of his children and he was able to share many memories from those early days in his 11 years before his dad Lloyd, Sr. moved the family to Michigan.
“When I told them I was coming down I called the girls and they called back and said they were coming with me,” noted Carr. “They had asked Jason who has a lot going on with the foundation and his other two boys.”
“I did not ask him to come but got a call from his wife Tammi and she said I am so happy Jason is going with you,” added the former Michigan coach. “For me to be able to take my kids to places where I was when I was 8, 9, 10 years old and show them where we played ball, mowed lawns and I carried the newspapers Kingsport Times-News) just made it one of my greatest journeys.”
Jason, who was able to play one year for his dad at Michigan before graduation, said he had been back to Tennessee a couple of times when he was younger but neither of those trips matched this one with his sisters.
“It was unbelievable,” noted Jason of the trip to Tennessee. “The funniest part was that he would get so excited telling us where he lived, the schools he attended and he also took us on his newspaper route. He was so excited to see all those places again.”
Carr’s connections with Michigan limits what he can talk about as far as other universities or their coaching staffs due to NCAA regulations but he shared about the current Big Blue head coach Jim Harbaugh.
“What he did last year with that Michigan team was really special and I’m delighted with him,” added Carr. “What has really impressed me is that they love this guy and he is a great football coach.
“Jim’s dad Jack was a Hall of Fame coach and won a national championship at Western Kentucky. He coached at Michigan with Bo Schembechler and when he left to become the defensive coordinator at Stanford I was hired to replace him.”
Jason also had a round of coaching before his son was stricken with the cancer and noted he was glad his dad did not become the head coach at Michigan earlier than he did because of the limits it places on a coach’s family.
“I was at Vanderbilt for three years with Woody Widenhofer and then I went to Central Michigan as a wide receiver coach for two years,” said Jason. “I shared an office with Butch Jones at Central Michigan. He was the offensive coordinator and I coached the tight ends.
“I loved being around him. He was a great recruiter and was so into the little details with recruits and our offense. You always said he’s a guy that’s going to be successful and he has been everywhere he has been.”
