Panthers inspired by the memory of Sam Mills

SAN FRANCISCO - There are speeches and then there are Speeches.

There are ones that are delivered and quickly forgotten, like a rambling Sunday sermon. And there are others that stir your emotions and leave a lasting impact.

Twelve years ago, Sam Mills, a quiet man who usually preferred to let his actions do his talking, gave a stirring, unforgettable address to the Carolina Panthers on the night before their 2003 wild-card playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Just four months earlier, Mills, the team's 44-year-old linebackers coach, had been diagnosed with intestinal cancer. The doctors gave the five-time Pro Bowler three months to live. He fooled them and lasted 20.

"You could hear a pin drop when he started speaking,'' said Panthers receivers coach Ricky Proehl, who was a wideout on that '03 team. "You talk about inspirational. He talked about how everybody was saying he was an inspiration to the players, but that the players were really an inspiration to him and how they taught him to keep fighting, keep pounding.''

Mills referenced a 12-9 overtime win over Tampa Bay that year in which the Bucs scored with no time left on the clock and needed only to make the extra point to win. But the Panthers blocked the PAT and then won the game in overtime.

"He said, 'No one blocks extra points. It just doesn't happen. But you guys believed you could and you did it,' " Proehl said.

"He said that was the turning point for him. He said, 'I'm going to keep pounding. They gave me three months. Three months and I was supposed to be dead. But I'm still here, and it's because of you guys.' "

Inspired by Mills' words, the Panthers went out and rolled over the Cowboys 29-10, then beat the Rams in overtime, then went to hostile Philadelphia for the NFC Championship Game, intercepted Donovan McNabb three times and held him to 100 passing yards in a 14-3 win. Eventually lost to New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII on a 41-yard field Adam Vinatieri field goal with time running out.

"That speech was very emotional,'' said Jim Skipper, the Panthers' running backs coach then and now and one of Mills' closest friends. "He was going through chemo. He understood reality. He just told the guys, 'Hey, look, no matter what the situation is, keep looking forward. Keep on pounding. Just keep on doing what you're doing. He was very emotional, and it stuck.''

Mills passed away on April 18, 2005. But his "keep pounding" message lives on, not just with the Panthers, but with the people of Charlotte and the Carolinas. There is a Keep Pounding Fund, a Keep Pounding 5K race, a Keep Pounding Blood Drive and a Keep Pounding Kids Program. More than $2 million has been raised under the "Keep Pounding" banner to find a cure for the cancer that killed Sam.

Mills' oldest son, Sam III, is the Panthers' assistant defensive line coach. There is a statue of Mills outside the Panthers' home, Bank of America Stadium.

Walk into the team's locker room or weight room and you will see "Keep Pounding" signs on the wall. For the last two seasons, those two words have been stitched into the inside collar of each player's jersey.

There is a "Keep Pounding" drum that can be found on the sideline at every home game. Right before kickoff, a special guest bangs the drum four times. Two weeks ago, before the Panthers' NFC Championship Game win over Arizona, it was team owner Jerry Richardson. Before their divisional win over Seattle, Proehl did the honors.

"I had a jacket on with Sam's (No. 51) jersey on underneath,'' Proehl said. "When I took the jacket off, the place went wild.''

Even though it's not a home game, the Panthers will have the "Keep Pounding" drum on the sideline with them at Levi's Stadium on Sunday when they face the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. No word yet on who will be banging it.

"That's our motto,'' said Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis, who intends to play less than two weeks after having surgery to repair a broken right forearm.

"That's what we go by day in and day out. It's written in the locker room and the weight room, posted for the players to see every time we go in there. It's just become a part of our culture and what we do.''

Mills, a linebacker, was an inspirational player. Just 5-9, he was considered too short to play pro ball. Cut by the Cleveland Browns and even the CFL's Toronto Argonauts, he found a home in the United States Football League with the Philadelphia Stars and quickly became that league's best defensive player.

After the league went belly-up, Mills signed with the New Orleans Saints, where he spent nine seasons before moving on to Carolina and playing his final three NFL seasons. The guy they affectionately called "Field Mouse" was a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.

After he retired, he joined the Panthers as an assistant coach.

"To this day, I still ride by my dad's statue and think to myself, wow, that's amazing that he has a statue," said his son. "Especially since he played here such a short period of time. But Carolina really embraced him when he went there.''

Mills was the expansion Panthers' first free-agent signee in '95, which was their first season of existence. A year later, at the age of 36, he took them to the NFC Championship Game.

Richardson showed his appreciation by erecting the statue and retiring Mills' number. When Sam took a turn for the worst in Arizona a month before his death, Richardson sent a private plane to get Mills and bring him back home to Charlotte.

"That's how Mr. Richardson is,'' Skipper said. "That's the kind of man he is.''

Mills' son sees a piece of his father in each of the Panthers' three starting linebackers - Davis, Luke Kuechly and rookie Shaq Thompson.

"I feel the three of them make up (his father),'' Sam said. "You have Thomas, who is the heart and soul of our defense and our team. Just the perseverance (three ACL injuries) and integrity he has shown reminds me of my dad.

"Then you have Luke, who is the onfield general of our team. The brains of the operation. I think back to the 'Dome Patrol' days (with the Saints) where you had certain pieces, and my dad's piece of the puzzle was to be the intellectual guy. To get everybody lined up. To get the play called correctly. To call out what was coming. That's Luke.

"Lastly, you have a young guy like Shaq who is young and eager to learn. That's the role my father was once in. It's a unique makeup of that (linebacker) room. It kind of embodies him.''

On Sunday, the Panthers may win or they may lose, but one thing they won't do is quit. They will be inspired by the words of a man they never met, but feel like they've known forever.

They will keep pounding.

On Twitter: @Pdomo

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