Washington Commanders Coach Ron Rivera was selected as the 2022 George Halas Award winner by the Pro Football Writers of America for his success in the face of adversity, the organization announced Monday.
In 2020, Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and underwent 35 proton radiation treatments and three cycles of chemotherapy while continuing to coach. He lost 30 pounds and often needed rest periods between meetings and practices as well as intravenous fluids during halftimes of games. But he never missed a game, and although he was physically weakened, Rivera helped Washington to its first playoff berth in five years.
“He’s tougher than nails,” Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said in October. “You knew that as a player, and I was able to see it through his coaching, working with him firsthand [in Philadelphia]. Then the world got to see it, and what a great example he is for so many — for having gone through that, persevering through it, the toughness that it takes, staying positive mentally to work through it and then doing his job the way he did.”
The morning after the Commanders’ October 2020 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Rivera celebrated his final treatment by ringing the bell at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Northern Virginia. Three months later, he learned he was “officially cancer free.”
Rivera still has regular checkups with doctors, and he said last season that he still deals with fatigue.
“There’s still some things that do slow me down,” he said in October. “I’m still trying to go through the recovery.”
Rivera is the fourth member of Washington’s organization to receive the award and the second in as many years; Rivera was on the ballot in 2020, but the honor went to Alex Smith after the quarterback returned from a life-threatening leg injury and infection to help the Commanders win the NFC East.
Former Washington quarterback Billy Kilmer won the award in 1976, and cornerback Pat Fischer won in 1978.
Read more articles like this at the Washington Post.
Photo: Washington Coach Ron Rivera learned he’s cancer-free in January 2021. (Alex Brandon/AP)
