Published: 04:07 PM, Tue Apr 13, 2010
Pine Forest running back loses his battle with cancer
Pine Forest coach Bill Sochovka said there are two types of high school football players - those who think they love football, and those who really do. Lavelle Sloan was one of the latter.
Sloan, a senior running back for the Trojans, lost his almost year-long battle with cancer and died Monday at Cape Fear Medical Center. He was 18 years old.
Sochovka said Sloan passed early Monday morning, and the news hit the team and the school hard. Students are collecting donations for the family. Next year's football season is dedicated already to the memory of a kid described as well behaved, talented and unselfish.
"One time, he came to me and told me, 'Listen, I know I'm not going to get a lot of playing time (on offense), but if you need me on defense or special teams, I'm willing to do that.' " said Sochovka on Tuesday. "He offered that. That's something, as a coach, you love to see."
Funeral arrangements and visitation hours haven't been finalized yet, said a representative with Dafford Funeral Home in Dunn. Sochovka said the football team is discussing how it will honor Sloan's memory next season.
The 5-foot-5, 170-pound player served as the squad's inspiration this past year after a golf ball-sized tumor was discovered on the right side of his brain in May. Sloan recovered from the resulting surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. He rejoined the team in the fall with expectations of competing for a starting position, but doctors never cleared him to play.
Sochovka said Sloan suffered a relapse after the holidays and was pulled out of school in February. Cumberland County Schools had made arrangements for him to graduate early next week. Superintendent Frank Till Jr., members of the football team and other students and teachers planned to attend.
Many of the players and the coaches visited with him the past couple of months. Sochovka said talking football always cheered him up.
"I took over a highlight tape of this past season and we watched that," Sochovka said. "When his mom told him, that was the one time he was alert and smiling."
Staff writer Paul Shugar can be reached at shugarp@fayobserver.com or 486-3513.