Buskirk springing ahead
A Bob Ettinger story...
There have been a lot of tears over the last several years for John Buskirk. Few of those have been shed because something good was happening. This time, however, was different.
This time, Buskirk was counting his blessings and, simply put, it moved him to tears.
“I sat there and started crying when I hung up the phone,” Buskirk said. “It’s an amazing thing. Everyone has been so generous to us. This epitomizes just how fortunate (my wife) Jessica and I have been. Everyone in the community has been so generous. We’re overwhelmed all the time because of what everybody has done for us. I want to say thanks to everyone and we look forward to giving back.”
The latest act of generosity that left Buskirk feeling blessed came from an unexpected source. It was an invitation for the Buskirks to attend spring football practice at the University of Florida from Urban Meyer, a 1982 St. John graduate and current head football coach of the Gators.
“I try to do as much as I can,” Meyer said from Gainesville on Friday night. “It’s humbling to be in the position my wife (Shelley) and I are in. We do as much as we can, but this was extra special because John is from Ashtabula and is a St. John graduate. I feel awful I can’t get back as much as I’d like.
“But this is extra special to me.”
It might be special to Meyer for him to have invited the Buskirks to visit, but it means far more to the Buskirks.
“Everyone in the community has been so generous,” Buskirk said. “Urban just topped it off. I was overwhelmed, emotionally. He barely knows me and he goes to so much trouble to bring a smile to my face. This is a guy I idolize and I get to go down and see how he runs a program and how he deals with players in a one-on-one setting. That’s amazing.”
The Buskirks will be in Florida for a week. They will visit Meyer and his family on April 4 and 5 before heading to South Florida to stay with some friends for a few days. The trip will be a sort of celebration for the Buskirks.
“I am so looking forward (to going to Florida),” Buskirk said. “It’s amazing how everything works out. Coach Meyer is such a generous person. Him giving us the chance to go down there blew us away.”
Meyer invited the Buskirks to visit during a time he knows he can spend some time with them.
“I look forward to meeting them,” Meyer said. “We set it up so they could come down on a weekend my assistants and I will have time to be with them. At this level, time is always an issue. We want to make sure we do it the right way (with the Buskirks visit).”
Buskirk reached a milestone in his recovery from a bone marrow transplant to help rid him of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia he’s been fighting for more than two years. It has been more than a hundred days since Bill Buskirk, John’s brother, donated his own bone marrow to John.
“Right now, I’m leukemia-free,” John Buskirk said. “I guess you can call it remission. There’s no more leukemia. Now, I’ve got to get my body to keep accepting and growing the new marrow so I can get back to 100 percent.
My blood counts are good, but their still below that of a normal person. I have to get my blood counts back, my energy level up and my immune system back on par. It will probably take another six months to a year.”
Buskirk almost missed out altogether on the trip to Florida.
“I work with (basketball coach Tom) Penna (during football season as assistants at SS. John and Paul),” Buskirk said. “He told me to call Urban. I didn’t want to call because I know he’s so busy. Then, finally in January, after the season was done, I called him and told him who I was and what my situation was.
“He invited me down to watch practice and hang around with him and his family. I was amazed. We were talking like five minutes and he invited us down.”
The trip to Gainesville will give the Buskirks, both lovers of football, a chance at having a little fun in the sun.
“We can’t wait,” John Buskirk said. “Jessica loves football, too. We’ll be somewhere warm where we can just relax and do something we both enjoy. The chance to meet Urban is huge. I was stuttering when I talked to him, I was so nervous.
“But he’s a down-to-earth and humble guy. You’d never realize he’s won a national championship and had a Heisman Trophy winner.”
Buskirks visit will also help Meyer in some ways.
“We all need to be picked up sometimes,” Meyer said. “Hopefully, this will help him. There are things that always humble us as coaches. This is a game and there’s more to it than just winning and losing. Some things are far more important.
“It touched me that he was from my alma mater. I’m glad he reached out to me. I was all emotional when I found out about it.”
The Buskirks are viewing the opportunity to visit Meyer and the Gators during spring practice as a once-in-a-lifetime deal.
“(I’m looking forward) to spending time with Coach Meyer and his family and getting to know them,” Buskirk said. “They’re such great people. I look forward to adding some new friends.
“I’ve never been to a spring practice anywhere. Going down to Florida and watching it in The Swamp is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Meyer has no specific plans in place as of yet, but he knows Buskirk loves football.
“The closer we get (to the visit), the more we’ll work on the details,” Meyer said. “I’m sure it will revolve around football. I know he’s a football fan, a football guy.”
Buskirk will only be fueled to get back to the SJP sideline as quick as possible after taking the trip south.
“It’s fired me up,” Buskirk said. “(SJP football coach Jim) Timonere and I have already talked this week. He told me bring back a lot of stuff from Urban. I told him it might not look exactly the same (as what the Gators do), but I’d try my best.”
Buskirk hopes he’ll be helping the Heralds quite a bit next fall.
“I hope to be back in some capacity,” Buskirk said. “I’ll do whatever my health, Coach Timonere, the doctors and my wife will allow. I some of the players recently and they’re all asking if I’m coming back. As long as I can walk, I’ll be there. I’m sure it won’t be nearly as much as I want it to be.”
There’s no real timetable, but Buskirk will also return to teaching at Harvey sometime early next school year.
“As soon as the doctors clear me, I hope to be back teaching,” Buskirk said. “I want to be part-time by August or September, depending on what the physicians say. I hope to be back as soon as possible. I hope to gradually come back.
“Jessica will be back to work next week. She’s looking forward to getting back to normal.”
Buskirk almost can’t wait just to get back to the parts of life most everybody else takes for granted.
“I can’t wait to be back to normal,” Buskirk said. “That’s my dream. I dream about having to go back to work, like normal people do. I can’t wait for my alarm clock to go off at 5:30 in the morning.”
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