Two springs ago, the then-seniors-to-be on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh football team chose a theme for the 2015 season: Event + Response = Outcome.
They had no idea just how important their simple equation for success would become … you can’t control what happens but you can control your response to affect the outcome.
Leg pain turns into medical crisis
Justin Wolman was a freshman gray shirt on the UWO football team in 2014-2015. A 2014 high school graduate from Belvidere, Ill., the offensive lineman was adjusting to both college and football, when he began to feel pain and soreness in his left leg during the Titans 2015 spring ball practices.
Wolman returned to Illinois for the summer but the soreness didn’t subside. And when the pain—located at the bottom of his femur—became too unbearable while on a family trip to Disneyland, it was time to see a doctor.
It turned out, he needed to see quite a few doctors.
A visit to urgent care led to a stay at SwedishAmerican Hospital for what doctors thought was a bone infection. It wasn’t. It then led the Wolman’s to Rockford Orthopedic, where doctors suggested talking to Northwestern Memorial Hospital or the University of Chicago Medical Center about his MRI results.
“We weren’t hearing anything back,” Wolman explained. “So I called Austin Archer (UWO football assistant coach), who got me in contact with UWO athletic trainer Jack Johnsen and he was able to get my films to Dr. Patrick McKenzie (UWO’s orthopedic surgeon).”
McKenzie—who was contacted June 30—got an appointment set up for Wolman at Froedtert Hospital of Milwaukee to see Dr. Donald Hackbarth just two days later .
By Wednesday of the following week, while out to dinner with family to celebrate his belated birthday, Wolman finally got answers. “Dr. Hackbarth called and said ‘It’s lymphoma,’” Wolman remembers.
A team bands together to support in cancer fight
Austin Archer was starting his first year as the full-time offensive line coach with the Titans in 2015–after a two-year graduate assistantship with UWO–when he got the phone call from Wolman about his diagnosis.
“My first thought was kind of panic,” Archer said. “It was the first time I had dealt with something so serious in this position. I remember telling him we were here for him and he didn’t have to deal with it by himself; that was part of being a team.”
Archer immediately relayed the news to the members of the offensive line and told the remaining team members as the 2015 preseason neared.
“The team was definitely affected by Justin’s cancer diagnosis,” Archer said. “They wanted to do whatever they could to help.”
There was a constant stream of communication with Wolman who started his first of six rounds of chemotherapy in late July, including comments and private messages on the “Justin’s Lymphoma Fight” Facebook page and text messages before and after chemotherapy sessions.
“It was so moving that these young men were all the first to respond on a Facebook update, or send private messages saying ‘we’re thinking of you today buddy, you got this’,” explained Amy Wolman, Justin’s mother. “Justin just had this feeling of support coming from two and a half hours away.”
Throughout the season, team members also wore lime green bracelets inscribed with Wolman’s initials, along with the year’s theme: E+R=O.
Sam Versnik, a senior offensive lineman in 2015, wrote Justin’s initials on the tape that covered his hand and wrist every game and sent the pictures to Wolman. “I wanted something that I could look at and have a reminder that life is precious and to enjoy every moment,” Versnik said.
Event + Response = Outcome
In late August 2015–after two chemotherapy treatments–Wolman decided to make the trek to Oshkosh to see his teammates and talk to the whole team.
“I wanted to personally tell my story about what was going on,” Wolman explained.
By that point, Wolman’s hair had fallen out, he was on crutches and wore a big knee brace. But he was still treated like just one of the guys.
“Justin talking to the team was big,” Archer explained. “He was able to see the whole team for the first time since learning he had cancer and the whole team was able to give him a hug. For Justin–who was one of the quietest kids on the team–to stand up there and talk to everyone and open up so much was pretty cool.”
It was the first of many visits back to Oshkosh to see his teammates in 2015.
His second was the Titans regular-season home game against UW-Whitewater in early October.
With the game tied 7-7 against the top team in the nation–and with injuries plaguing UWO, including quarterbacks Brett Kasper and Connor Senger—Wolman headed to the locker room for halftime.
He sat and listened to each adjustment that was being made when Titan head coach Pat Cerroni brought everybody back together and asked Wolman to come to the middle with him.
“Coach Cerroni basically starts his speech by going ‘this is just a game. Justin has cancer. If you think this is hard, suck it up…E+R=O…now go out and win this game’,” Wolman said.
The Titans did win the game, 10-7, on a blocked field goal to snap Whitewater’s 36-game winning streak.
“Pat’s speech really put things in perspective,” Archer explained.
A player becomes a coach
Wolman—who took the full academic year off in 2015-2016— finished his sixth and final round of chemotherapy on Nov. 6, 2015, had a knee replacement 24 days later and went into remission one week before Christmas.
All great and amazing news but, because of the knee replacement, his dream of playing collegiate football vanished.
“I knew not being able to play football was a possibility,” Wolman said. “But to come out of cancer and the only thing that happened was my knee was replaced and I couldn’t play football–I would take that any day.”
Archer and the entire football staff had made it clear to Wolman early in his diagnosis that he always had a place on the team.
“I told Justin from the beginning that if he was going to return and attend school at UW-Oshkosh that I wanted him to be part of the team,” Archer said. “He had worked hard to be a part of this team, and I wanted him to know we would take him–in any capacity–with open arms.”
Wolman tentatively stepped back onto the Titans squad by attending a weekend of spring practices in 2016 and, after a successful three days, knew he wanted to continue as an offensive line coach.
“I missed it,” Wolman simply said.
His mother Amy is just as grateful to the Titan coaching staff.
“It meant everything to me that Justin always had a place on the team,” she said. “Football is still part of his life and I feel a part of his soul. He needed that. The fact that the coaching staff was willing to take Justin on with barely any experience on the college level and figure it out as they went along…not many people would do that now-a-days. It speaks to the bunch of guys up there and how special they are.”
Wolman, now nearly four months into his new role, is already sounding like a seasoned coach.
“My hope for this team is to win a national championship this year; it is what everyone hopes for. And my goal for the next three years? To continue to have the success we have had recently.”
The Titans continue their march to that goal Saturday when they host Saint John’s University of Collegeville, Minn., in the second round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship. Kickoff is noon at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
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