On Sept. 18, Goshen College’s male coaches gathered outside of the Recreation Fitness Center to shave their heads. They did this in order to support GC men’s and women’s bowling coach, Scott Curtis, who was diagnosed with cancer this summer..

Despite his diagnosis, Curtis is remaining positive. “A lot of it has to do with just my normal mindset. I’m not a negative person by any means,” he said. He also noted how being around his athletes helps him during this time. “They’re not treating me like I’m wounded, so to speak,” said Curtis. “We chit-chat, we joke around, nothing’s changed.”

After Curtis proposed the idea to the coaching staff, Jeff Phillips, women’s volleyball coach, offered to bring in his hair clippers and suggested the initial date. Phillips described Curtis as “good for the environment and good for the overall coaching staff. He’s a really good guy and it has been nice to be able to bowl with him and do some things like that over the years.”

For head baseball coach, Brad Stoltzfus ’18, the decision to partake in the head shaving was straightforward. “I thought about it for a little bit and I was like ‘heck yeah,’ I’m due,” Stoltzfus said. 

While the rest of the coaches chose to shave their heads, Curtis chose to not partake in the initiative. Instead, he is using his hair as motivation to persevere through his treatments. “All the chemo I am going through hasn’t taken all of my hair yet, so I’m using it as motivation that it’s not going to conquer me,” Curtis said.

As mentioned, the coaches met outside of the RFC on Sept. 18. According to Curtis, the session was lighthearted, with coaches making jokes with one another. He appreciates the backing from his counterparts, saying, “They’re just willing to help and support me, whatever they can do.”

The widespread support from GC as a whole has been overwhelming for Curtis. “To have the campus get to the point where so many people have reached out and said ‘Hey, you’re in our prayers, and we’ll help you with whatever you need,’ …I’m not used to that,” he said.

Curtis also received gifts from other teams on campus. In particular, he received a card from Phillip’s women’s volleyball team and a gift basket from the women’s soccer team.

After receiving the card from the volleyball team, Curtis attended one of their practices to say thanks. “They kind of circled around me, and I just told them thank you for that, because you didn’t have to do this, but you did, and I appreciate it,” Curtis said.

Stoltzfus believes that the support for Curtis encompasses the attitude of GC and the wider community as a whole. “This is really how the city of Goshen operates, how our school operates,” he said. “People are very supportive in that regard, to jump on board and support a cause that they’re willing to stand up for.”

“I just think it exposes that there’s people who care, regardless,” Phillips said. “It wouldn’t necessarily matter who the person was or what the scenario was.”

“I think it’s a good recognition of how it’s a campus that has the compassion to look at events like that and spring into action and go ‘hey, that’s something that I can help with or something that I can participate in,” Phillips said.

Reflecting on the support he has received from the GC campus, Curtis said, “the biggest thing that I can say is just thank you. I could say thank you forever but everybody from my family to my team, to the school, even the people that I bowled with, the leagues I bowled with here in Goshen know all about this. But yeah, the biggest thing is just thank you.”