Ten years after he was the 53rd player chosen in the NFL Draft, Devon Still can’t help but be amazed at the dramatic turns his life has taken.
Now 32, Still would have hoped to be well into a long and successful pro football career.
Instead, factors both in his football and family life altered his course down a path that was, for a time, painful and perilous.
When the Howard High graduate is one of nine Delaware Sports Hall of Fame inductees next month, Still will be quite content with where he is and what he’s doing.
“I had to start using my brain to take me even further,” Still said.
His injury-plagued NFL career ended up lasting just four seasons and 33 games through 2016. But Still will enter the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame with two master’s degrees, a national reputation as an advocate for cancer-stricken families and, most importantly, a healthy daughter.
Leah Still was 4 when, in June 2014, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 pediatric neuroblastoma, a cancer that kills roughly half of the children whose bodies it invades. Leah underwent surgery, chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, radiation treatment and other therapy.
Less than a year later, with Still frequently putting his NFL ambitions aside to remain at his daughter’s bedside, doctors said Leah was cancer-free, though treatment continued. Now 11, she remains in remission.
“She’s six years cancer-free,” Still said by phone from Houston, where he lives with Leah, who is in sixth grade, wife Asha and younger daughter Aria.
Still earned a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Houston after having played his final NFL season in 2016 with the Houston Texans. He has now completed a second master’s degree in applied positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
“The way I’m going to use my degrees,” he said, “is to help provide caretakers, institutions and communities with the tools to help children flourish. Children who are battling cancer are part of that community.”
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Being an advocate for families coping with cancer has been Still’s livelihood since Leah was stricken and will continue to be.
When she was diagnosed, “There was no playbook,” Still said, using a football reference, for how a family was supposed to deal with such a difficult, multi-faceted challenge. He has made it his life’s work to help others through that challenging process.
That is done through his Still Strong Foundation, which raises funds to help families whose children are being treated for cancer. Still and Leah have also partnered with United Therapeutics to launch “Braving NeuroBLASToma,” which provides resources for those families.
“Since we went public with Leah’s story,” Still said, “it’s been rewarding because I always wanted to give a purpose to our pain. To see the amount of families we’ve been able to impact just by sharing our story and then starting our foundation, and then making partnerships like we have with United Therapeutics, it’s been crazy.”
Still, who grew up in Edgemoor, was a three-sport start at Howard. He was named the 2007 state Lineman of the Year in football, won two state indoor titles in the shot put and started for the Wildcats’ basketball team.
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“One of the biggest takeaways from going to Howard was surrounding myself with amazing athletes,” said Still, adding that made him a more versatile athlete trying to keep up with them. “… I found lifelong friends during that time.’’
He never knew any former pro athletes to emulate, hatching his own ambitions “off of sheer willpower” and determination, he said.
Still earned a football scholarship to Penn State and went on to be named a first-team All-American and Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year as a senior in 2011. He graduated with a degree in Criminal Law and Justice.
After being chosen in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Bengals, Still was plagued by hamstring and other injuries in his NFL career.
Being with Leah through her medical battles kept him away from football, and the Bengals put him on the practice squad to start the 2014 season so he could continue to receive his pay while not having to be present for games. He was then elevated to the active roster and appeared in a career-high 12 games in 2014.
“Of course, I wish this didn’t have to happen to Leah or my family,” Still said. “But it did so it was always trying to find the good, or recycle our pain in a way that could really make a difference.”
SNOW DAY: Wilmington High great inducted to hall of fame
Leah made it “out of the darkness” of cancer, Still said. Now helping others feel some rays of light are a daily goal.
“I was just talking to a father not too long ago that an oncologist put me in contact with,” Still said. “Just being able to sit with him on Zoom for like an hour and be a sounding board, a safe space for him to be able to release some of the emotions he’s dealing with on how he can go about this journey with his daughter. If we didn’t go through it, I wouldn’t be able to provide that type of peace for families battling cancer.”
Still and fellow inductees will be enshrined Thursday, May 12, during the 46th annual hall of fame banquet at the Chase Center on the Wilmington Riverfront. Social hour and silent auction begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner and the ceremony at 6:45.
Tickets are $65 with tables of 8 available for $490. They may be purchased at www.desports.org/events. The deadline for reserving tickets is May 9.
The other 2022 inductees:
JULIET BOTTORFF: The Tatnall School distance phenom was the state’s top cross-country runner from 2006-08 and was equally dominant on the track, setting nine state individual records while excelling at every distance from 800 to 3,200 meters and establishing a slew of state relay marks as well. That included anchoring Tatnall’s winning distance medley relay team in the Championship of America at the Penn Relays. Bottorff then went to Duke, where she was 2011 NCAA 10,000-meter outdoor champion and a two-time All-American at that distance as well as in the 5,000 and in cross country. Bottorff was two-time ACC champ in the 5,000. After college she was a top 10 finisher at several distances on the track and in road racing in U.S. championship events.
KATELYN FALGOWSKI: Falgowski began playing for United States field hockey teams while attending St. Mark’s High, made her senior debut at age 17 in the 2006 World Cup and went on to become Delaware’s first and only three-time Olympian, appearing in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games. She played in 261 games for the U.S. senior national field hockey team. Falgowski also starred at the University of North Carolina, where she won two NCAA titles, set a still-standing school record for career assists (83), was a two-time first-team All-American and National Player of the Year as a senior in 201. Falgowski sparked the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games and a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Olympics.
DAVE FREDERICK: Frederick was an all-conference football and basketball player at Bishop Egan in Philadelphia’s Catholic League and then played football at Temple University. He was hired as a teacher and coach in 1975 at Cape Henlopen High and guided the Vikings to Division II boys track and field outdoor state titles in 1976 and 1978, the school’s first cross country state championship in 1977 and indoor track state championships in 1984 and 1985. He was state indoor track coach of the year in 1984 and 1985. In 1982, Frederick began writing a weekly column at The Whale, a Sussex weekly, then moved to The Cape Gazette in 1993. His often-humorous musings about the people, places and events in around Lewes have been a staple for area readers and Frederick also authored an anthology of short stories “In A Class By Myself.”
JOE HOLLOWAY: Three years after his induction to the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, Holloway now joins his home state sports hall. The 1974 Salesianum School and 1978 University of Delaware graduate was introduced to harness racing in his early teens by family friend Rev. Francis Tierney, a part-time driver at Brandywine Raceway, and worked as a groomsman. By age 16 he was racing trotters himself and went on to become one of the nation’s most successful drivers and trainers. Holloway was U.S. Harness Writers Association Trainer of the Year in 1995 and trained seven Breeder’s Crown winners from 1994 through 2015, including three-time winner Jenna’s Beach Boy, which set several world mile records. Among the many other big winners he trained were, most recently, 2016 Horse of the Year Always B Miki. Holloway joins his brother Jack, the former William Penn High wrestling coach, as an inductee.
BOB KING: King won state cross country titles as a Howard junior and senior over 2.3-mile Rockford Park loops in 1957 and 1958, his 10:48 time in 1958 not surpassed by anyone else for more than a decade. He was also state 880 and low hurdles champion in track to spark Howard to three New Castle County and state championships. He then starred at Morgan State University, where he captained relay teams that prevailed at major meets throughout the northeast, including the Penn Relays and Millrose Games. King later returned to Howard as coach, guiding the Wildcats to boys and girls state titles before becoming an administrator and principal. The 3:14.2 his 1984 Wildcats ran at the Penn Relays remains the state 1,600-meter relay record. In 2001, King revived the dormant Wednesday night summer youth developmental track meets at Baynard Stadium that were later renamed in his honor.
KHADIJAH RUSHDAN: The St. Elizabeth High graduate was the first Delaware high school athlete in any sport to be named first team All-State five times, doing so from 2003 through 2007. Rushdan was state Player of the Year three times and sparked the Vikings to the 2007 state championship as a senior. She averaged 11 points, three steals and a team-leading six assists for the U.S. gold medalists at the 2006 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship. Rushdan graduated with a state record 2,464 career points and was named a McDonald’s and Parade All-American. Rushdan then starred at Rutgers, where she was first-team All-Big East as senior, played in a school record 135 games and scored 1,288 points. Rushdan had a brief pro career before going into coaching.
BOB SHILLINGLAW: Shillinglaw coached an NCAA record 654 lacrosse games while serving as University of Delaware coach for 37 seasons from 1979-2017 after a three-year stint at Massachusetts Maritime. Shillinglaw guided the Blue Hens to 15 conference titles and six NCAA Tournament berths, including the 2007 Final Four. His 310-303 record at Delaware makes him one of just two college coaches to win 300 games at one school. Shillinglaw was national Coach of the Year in 1979 and 2007 and conference Coach of the Year five times. He was also head coach for Team USA when it downed Canada in the inaugural World Cup of Lacrosse in 1999. Shillinglaw was also instrumental in lacrosse’s growth in the First State, which had just two boys high school teams when he arrived and this spring has 40. He established the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation Regional Chapter in 1980 and assisted with starting the Delaware Youth Lacrosse Association, serving as its president for 37 years and creating its Hall of Fame.
GENE THOMPSON: Thompson was boys basketball coach at Wilmington High from 1976-77 through 1998-99, after which the school closed. He guided the Red Devils to the 1978, 1983 and 1988 state championships. His teams included seven first-team All-State players, five second-team picks and three state Player of the Year selections. Thompson also advocated tennis as a youth sports activity and received the U.S. Tennis Association’s National Community Service Award in 1998. Thompson was state Coach of the Year in basketball (1978), tennis (1978) and track and field (1994), when his Red Devils were Division II state champions. He returned to his native Virginia in 2005 to coach men’s tennis at Virginia State University and was also an assistant women’s basketball coach and served as interim men’s coach.
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