Baseball has been a part of San Diego State outfielder Chad Bible’s life since virtually the day he was born.

“My dad gave me a little baseball,” Bible said, “and I guess I was holding it on the way out of the hospital.”

Bible returned to the hospital Thursday morning holding onto baseball to help him through the biggest challenge of his young life.


He was diagnosed Jan. 10 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“It was a shock,” Bible said. “I knew it was a possibility, but the way I was feeling, the way I was performing, I thought nothing was really wrong.”

Bible said he noticed a lump in his neck last May, but an ultrasound did not reveal anything and his doctor at the time said he was fine.

He didn’t think about it much over the summer, but noticed more lumps after transferring from College of the Canyons to SDSU for the fall semester. Bible told a trainer, who referred him to the team doctor. Other tests were done, leading up to a biopsy in late December.


Then came the news that he has cancer.

“There’s been a whirlwind of emotions,” he said. “It wasn’t so much that I had cancer. A lot of people get cancer down the road. It is what it is. You’ve just got to beat it. It was the fact that it was right before the season. I was ready to go. It’s my first Division I, college-ready season and I was pegged to start and be a factor in the lineup.

“It was just a thunderbolt to my world. My world pretty much ended that day for this season.”

Bible played left field and batted cleanup during SDSU’s first five games this season. It included an emotional victory Wednesday night at No. 7-ranked Cal State Fullerton.


After the game, Bible boarded the bus back to San Diego to be with his Aztecs. He didn’t want to leave them, even though, about five hours later, Bible had to get back on the road and drive to Los Angeles.

His first round of chemotherapy was Thursday at City of Hope. Seven more rounds are scheduled, every other week, over the next four months.

The prognosis for Bible is excellent. There is a 90 percent survival rate for those with stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to the American Cancer Society.

“Even if I had one percent, I’d still be confident I’m going to beat it,” Bible said.


As a college athlete in otherwise superior physical condition, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound sophomore from Valencia has everything going for him to make a full recovery.

Bible said he has drawn inspiration from the stories of Pitt running back James Conner and Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry. Both players were diagnosed with Hodgkin’s over the past two years and made strong returns after treatment. In fact, Conner just received a clean scan on Thursday as he prepared for next week’s NFL Combine.

“I just want to be an inspiration like those guys,” Bible said.

And he wants to go Conner and Berry one better. Bible wants to play during treatment.


“We’re all there for him,” SDSU pitcher Brett Seeburger said. “Hopefully, when he’s going through chemo he can still come out and play with us a little more.”

“He wants to play the whole year. He’s a guy who’s not going to back down from anything. Hopefully, he can stick around, but his well being is what’s most important.”

SDSU head coach Mark Martinez gathered the Aztecs players and coaches together soon after Bible received his diagnosis.

“There were some tears,” Martinez said. “For Chad, it wasn’t him feeling sorry for himself about having the disease. It was more about the unknown about what was going to happen with baseball.”


Martinez said Bible stood up and broke the news to the team himself.

“I would say two-thirds of the group put their heads in their hands, like disbelief,” Martinez said. “Near me, five kids burst into tears. ... He handled it as good as any young person who’s been thrown the ultimate thunderbolt. He handled it great and defused all the worry and stuff with the players.”

Bible downplays the seriousness of the situation with humor.

One example: Bible has a full head of brown hair, but the possibility of it falling out during treatment isn’t his biggest concern.


“Hopefully, I don’t lose my eyebrows,” Bible said. “If I lose my eyebrows I’m going to look like a weirdo.”

Bible said he didn’t “Why me?” when he was diagnosed, and he has quickly gained a perspective few others have at such a young age.

“These days go by and more and more it’s like an out-of-body experience sometimes,” Bible said. “I’ll just stop and take it all in. Take in the smell. Look around. It’s just crazy. ... This is something I’m going to take on for the rest of my life, when I’m cancer-free, into the world.

“Everyone should live that way. It’s not being selfish. It’s just, there’s some things in life people get too worked up about. These little, minuscule problems that they make huge when it’s not really a problem.


“Life is a precious thing. Some people take it for granted. I’m not going to die. I’m not worried about dying. It’s just a major life experience. It’s an event.”

Bible’s biggest concern through it all has been the possibility of having baseball taken away from him. It was especially important to him to play in the season’s first five games. The Fullerton contest was circled on his calendar long ago because that’s the university Bible attended out of high school. He redshirted, then transferred to College of the Canyons for a year before coming to SDSU.

“The coach and I didn’t really see eye to eye,” Bible said. “It wasn’t the place for me.”

He was eager to prove he could play at the Division I level. Bible went 2-for-4 in Wednesday’s game, giving him a .300 average through five games.


It grew more emotional with each inning at Fullerton, although few in the crowd knew it. Bible’s parents sat behind the SDSU dugout, taking cell phone pictures during each of his at-bats, wiping away tears in between.

SDSU closer CJ Saylor came on in the ninth inning to get the last three outs of the 5-4 victory, then gave the game ball to Bible.

Bible was the last player in line during a postgame handshake between the teams. He received a hug from each player on the Fullerton team before joining his Aztecs teammates in right field. They all clapped as he jogged out to join them.

Actually, they let Bible know what he means to the them weeks earlier.


In the fall, the SDSU players went through a day of Navy SEAL training in Coronado. In addition to perspective gained from the grueling workouts required to become a SEALs, the experience inspired a team bonding idea for the players.

Pitcher Dominic Purpura had dog tags made for the players and coaches, who each received two tags. One tag is personalized with the player’s name. On the other it tag reads:

“San Diego State baseball 2017”

“Family forever”


It also includes the abbreviation “TG19 DTR,” honoring former head coach Tony Gwynn and his slogan “Do things right.”

And below that is a nod to Bible, with his initials and number.

“Fearless CMB23,” it reads.

“It brought me to tears,” Bible said. “It meant the world to me that I’m on everybody’s mind like that.”


Said Purpura: “There’s going to be days where we’re all hurting and sore or we’re in a bases-loaded in the bottom of the ninth situation where we have to get this guy out.

“We have to have a check-in point where we can look at someone who’s going through something way greater than what we are at that moment and realize that that’s one of our brothers.

“Hopefully, it will help us get through that situation.”

The Aztecs play Tennessee, Seton Hall and Notre Dame over the next two days as part of the Tony Gwynn Classic. Bible had planned to stay home to see how he handles the first round of treatment. The wager is that he won’t be able to stay away the entire weekend.


SDSU then plays Tuesday at Long Beach State. Bible was asked if he would like to be back on the field for that game.

“Hell, yeah,” he said. “If Coach lets me play, I’m going to try to play. You can’t take me out of the lineup that easily.”

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kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney