SAN JOSE, Calif. – It's been 12 years since the Carolina Panthers last played in the Super Bowl, and in a very real sense, their loss in that postseason was far overshadowed by a lasting triumph.

For it was during that run to Houston that linebackers coach Sam Mills gave a speech to the team that transformed the franchise and, to some extent, the entire region.

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View photos Sam Mills (R) talks to Panthers DE Shaun King during the Panthers 1998 training camp. (Getty) More

Mills was an undersized player, counted out from the beginning of his career, a reclamation project from the old USFL after taking a job as a high school teacher in New Jersey. The fact that he became a five-time Pro Bowler, including once with the Panthers at age 37, was enough of a tribute to his heart. But after being diagnosed with intestinal cancer, Mills gave a speech as a position coach that still rings throughout the Carolinas today.

"When I found out I had cancer," he said, "there were two things I could do: quit or keep pounding. I'm a fighter. I kept pounding. You're fighters, too. Keep pounding!"

Ricky Proehl, who was on the team then and coaches wide receivers now, still gets emotional when he speaks of that moment.

"It was such an inspiration to our football team that words can't even describe," Proehl says. "To stand there and listen to that man tell us how he experienced being diagnosed with cancer and being given three months to live, and then live a year and a half, but in that process, in that season, saying that, 'Everybody says I inspire this football team because I'm fighting. I'm telling you this, you inspired me.' "

The Panthers went on a stirring run after Mills' speech, beating the Cowboys at home and then defeating the Rams and Eagles on the road to get to the Super Bowl.

But this was about far more than just football. "Keep Pounding" became a rallying cry for the team and for anyone fighting cancer in the Carolinas and beyond. There is a Keep Pounding Fund, a Keep Pounding 5K, a Keep Pounding Blood Drive, a Keep Pounding Kids Program. Nearly $2 million has been raised to fight the disease. This year's "honorary coach," a Make-A-Wish child named Braylon Beam, has become beloved in the Charlotte area. He has banged the Keep Pounding drum in a pregame ritual that serves as both a motivational tool and a spiritual reminder. The younger players on the team, for whom 2003 was half-a-lifetime ago, can recite the meaning and story about Keep Pounding nearly as well as Proehl can. It's that resonant.

"It's 12 years later, it's crazy, it has taken on a life," Proehl says. "I'll have people texting me, 'Great game last week, Keep Pounding.' It's on the end of every sentence, every congratulations, every good luck, and it's awesome. It's something I think was meant to be years ago."

Mills' statue stands outside Bank of America Stadium. "Leader and Gentleman," it reads at the bottom. But there is a living tribute to Mills that remains part of the team: his son, Sam III.

"He's all the things Sam was," says Proehl. "He's loyal, he's honest, he's just a good man."

View photos Sam Mills III talks with WR Domenik Hixon during Panthers' minicamp in 2013. (Getty courtesy of the Charlotte Observer) More

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