Articles written about Jimmy!
Saying goodbye to Jimmy Marvin
JIM EVANS 2/5/2004
CLAWSON - Considering the surroundings, the Rev. Charles Kosanke of Guardian Angels Catholic Church put the appropriate spin on Jimmy Marvin's nickname. To his parents, 'OLB' stands for 'Our Little Boy.' To the rest of us, it should be 'Our Little Blessing.'" Jimmy "OLB" William Marvin died Saturday at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. He was just 19. Jimmy graduated from Clawson High School in 2002. When the pastor brought up Jimmy's nickname, there was some quiet, knowing laughter in the church. Actually, "OLB" stood for "One-Legged Bastard." Jimmy's buddies tagged him with that after Ewing's sarcoma robbed him of his leg. Jimmy embraced the nickname. A leg is all that cancer swiped. It certainly did not take his courage, fortitude, or his sense of humor. "You should've heard it on the sidelines at our last game," Marvin had said during the autumn of his senior year in high school. "Everybody was saying, 'Put OLB in. Put OLB in.' The coaches did not know who or what they were talking about." He laughed, and that is a familiar soundtrack for anyone who knew Jimmy. Here's a passage from his obituary: With a zest for life and a wonderful personality and a smile to go with it, Jimmy took advantage of what life had to offer him. He was a strong and rough kid who played varsity football, enjoyed cooking, bowling, camping, and spending time with the people that were important to him ... He was the kind of person who was always there to lend a helping hand. During that same conversation from 2001, Jimmy also laughingly added: "If I ever get the chance, I will catch a pass and drag my leg behind me when I am heading into the end zone. Can you imagine a defender holding my artificial leg in his arms, and me just hopping into the end zone?" It was just a handful of years ago when Jimmy came home complaining of a bum ankle. His parents, Jim and Maggie, took notice only because complaints about aches and pains from their son were rare. Maybe he had wrenched it trying to stretch a single into a double on the baseball diamond. Maybe he'd turned it the wrong way shooting baskets with his buddies. Jimmy was hardly the sedentary sort, so contusions and abrasions were part of his genetic makeup. But the pain didn't go away, and a diagnosis was made. More than a year of chemotherapy followed and eventually it was Jimmy who made the decision to amputate the leg. "That was a tough decision to make," Jimmy had said. "They could've treated it with radiation, but there is a good chance the cancer would have come back. They talked about totally reconstructing the bone and ankle, but I couldn't have done anything ever again like playing sports and running. "Finally, I just decided amputation was the way to go. I just said 'Mom and Dad, let's take the sonofagun off so I can get on with my life.'" The cancer returned anyway. Nineteen years isn't much of a life, not by the normal yardstick anyway. Parents should never bury their children. Coaches should never weep at the funeral Mass for one of their players. Varsity jackets should never be funeral attire. Sorrow is way too rude to wait its turn. "I am one of the slowest kids on the team," Jimmy had said, chuckling. "I don't have any hands, either. They are like bricks. They stick me outside to block cornerbacks. I don't run anybody over, but I do the best I can." What better eulogy than that? Jimmy Marvin always did the best that he could. He took a lousy hand and somehow dealt with life better than most of us. All who knew Jimmy Marvin are better off for it. He was an inspiration. So what if no touchdowns came his senior year? Real impact doesn't flash on the scoreboard. Standing ovations aren't proper decorum for funeral Masses, but that is exactly what Jimmy Marvin deserved Wednesday morning.
Contact Jim Evans at jim.evans@dailytribune.com or 248-591-2557. ©Daily Tribune 2004
Qualities of a Hero
by Stephen G. Carrier
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
Bottom of the ninth, two outs, man on first, down by one. Kirk Gibson steps up to the plate. Being only seven years old, getting my first taste of a Major League Baseball game, I was praying for a hit. Kirk came through. He hit a two run homerun at that bat. Almost as if it were yesterday, I remember saying to my father, "Daddy, Kirk Gibson is my hero!".......Thing change. Ten years later a hero to me isn't someone who can hit a baseball five hundred feet or a quarterback that wins NFL championships every year. A hero to me is someone who is brave, strong and confident. My hero is my classmate and friend Jimmy Marvin. Jimmy does not fight the whole German army by himself or fight crime like Superman, but he is the bravest person I know. Imagine being fifteen years old and being diagnosed with cancer, only later to find out that your leg has to be amputated. That's the circumstances that he faces everyday. He lost all of his hair from chemotherapy, yet he still is brave enough to wake up every morning and go to school. With how heartless some kids are these days, I think that takes more bravery than running the ball straight at NFL pro bowl safety Steve Atwater with no blockers. Being strong has a couple of meanings. One is someone who is able to bench two hundred and fifty pounds. The other is someone who can stay positive throughout even the worse situations. Jimmy has done just that. For knowing that in just a few weeks he is going to lose his leg and have his life changed forever, he never stops smiling. It puts a smile on my face to see how positive he has remained. He doesn't let it get to him. He still goes out with his friends, has fun and doesn't expect anyone to feel sorry for him. Maybe he can only bench ninety-five pounds, maybe he can bench two hundred and fifty pounds. Either way, his attitude on this whole situation makes him stronger than the world's strongest man. The doctors were not sure if he would get through this. He has a different type of cancer. They have not seen too many cases like this. Jimmy did not care what the doctors told him, he knew he would survive this cancer. Confidence is a trait that all heroes should have. Kirk Gibson had the confidence to drive that pitch into the upper deck and Jimmy has the confidence to survive! What if Kirk Gibson would've struck out? What if he would not have gotten that game winning homer? He never would have been considered one of my heroes. It is all too common these days that people look to athletic figures or movie stars as heroes. Maybe in the games they play or the movies they star in they are brave, strong and confident, but put them in a situation like Jimmy's and we'll see who the real hero is.
Written Steve's Senior year of High school. Steve was a good friend of Jimmy & family.
Jon Clark
Saying Goodbye to Jimmy One of Jimmy’s best friends,
Jon Clark who was currently stationed in the military in Texas couldn’t unfortunately make Jimmy’s funeral. Jon was to ship out to Iraq in a few days after Jimmy’s funeral, but wrote these words for Jimmy. Good morning Mr. & Mrs. Marvin, family, and friends. I asked if I could say a few words on Jimmy’s behalf today. James or as I called him Jimmy is my best friend. I could trust him with anything and always could count on him being there for me. I remember the times we would just drive around Clawson in “Muffy”. As we always drove around Clawson we would talk about the usual, what to do tonight and girls! We used to work off each other if we needed some help with a girl. You know like Jimmy put a couple of good words in for me or Jon, ask her if she likes me, or ask her what she is thinking. Jimmy and I always knew what each other was thinking at any moment. If I needed to be bailed out of any troubling situations, there came Jimmy to my rescue. I owe him a lot for all those times he picked me up at a party for having too many sodas to drink. Speaking of sodas, as all of the kids of Clawson know about how my parents would leave for a vacation and in thirty minutes of them pulling out of the driveway, Jimmy would be over to my house helping me prepare the house for the festivities were about to happen. In an hour Jimmy would be on the phone getting us hooked up with a couple of cases or a keg of Coca-Cola for us to celebrate our freedom for the night. After a Coke or two Jimmy would always disappear for the night and wouldn’t answer his phone for the rest of the night. We finally caught on that he was at his girlfriend’s house relaxing or watching a movie with her. In the morning I would be awoken to Jimmy kicking me or a phone call to see if everything was all right. He would always come over and help me clean up my house so my parents wouldn’t find out what had happen the night before. I have one word that describes Jimmy. Fighter Here is the definition that I got out of the dictionary for fighter: A pugnacious, unyielding or determined person. This speaks clearly of Jimmy! Jimmy should be an inspiration to us all. When the odds went up against Jimmy he always beat them. When they told him he wouldn’t be able to play football anymore, I watched him take the field his senior year as a wide receiver. The ball was miss-thrown, but I believe if the pass was right Jimmy would have caught it. People though of Jimmy as being weak and not able to fight. I can tell you from experience that Jimmy is a dangerous person when you let him get loose. He would always rip off his leg and start swinging it wildly an laugh about it. When we would always run away in fear of taking a hit from his leg he wouldn’t give up. He would hop and chase you around and God forbid you slipped because he would come down hard with his leg and make you think twice before coming after him again. I believe Jimmy was the strongest man in the world. He didn’t have hug muscles but he had the biggest and strongest heart there is known to man. If I had a quarter of the heart he had I would be doing all right. As I look around I know Jimmy wouldn’t want us to grieve over his passing. I found a poem that I think Jimmy would have told us if he was here today. The poem is called “ I’m Free” author unknown.