Red Bank Legend Loses Battle With Cancer

A battle with one of the rarest forms of cancers is over, and so is the life of a young man who touched so many lives in Red Bank.

Victor Ellis was only 28-years-old when he passed away last night. The Red Bank High School Class of '98 graduate was a star athlete, who went on a scholarship to play football for the University of Alabama.

Ellis touched the lives of so many people in Red Bank and in Alabama, where he played football for the Crimson Tide and later became a recruiter for the team. Some of his closest friends and coaches were with him during his final days this week.

"And I'm so glad I went, I am. I'm glad I went, they said he can hear you. I got to tell Victor I loved him," Red Bank High School teacher and baseball coach Bumper Reese said.

Even in his last days 28-year-old Victor Ellis wore a smile that no one will ever forget. He came to Red Bank High School from Memphis in 1996, and played football, basketball and ran track his junior and senior years.

Teacher Susan Thurman became a close friend and recalls how "the kids looked to him for the leadership that he just gave naturally."

He wore the number nine and became a legend with the legendary team coached by Tom Weathers.

"He had a great influence on not only the team he was on but the teams that followed after he had graduated. Some of them were on the state championship team that were freshman his senior year, and I'm sure they were influenced by Victor Ellis," Weathers said.

Ellis earned a scholarship to the University of Alabama, and the world was his to conquer.

"Victor went to get an education, and he got that. With honors, he was all-SEC academic," Reese said.

"If you were a die-hard Tennessee fan, like I am, when Bama played I was for Victor," Thurman said

After graduation he had a short stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then became a recruiter for the Crimson Tide.

Last summer Ellis went to see a doctor about a nagging cough. He found out a very rare form of cancer was already consuming his body. It only affects people who carry the trait for Sickle Cell Anemia, and is known to have only affected 50 people worldwide.

Of course Victor Ellis is remembered for his legendary ability on the field. But everyone who knew him said he possessed that rare combination of extreme intelligence and compassion for other people.

"And I think the thing that impressed me the most about Victor Ellis was his desire to make people around him feel good. He would go in the cafeteria, and if there was a student eating lunch by themselves he ate lunch with them. If he was in a class with a student who had a self-esteem problem, he would get the seat next to them," Thurman said.

The few people with this rare cancer don't survive more that three months - Ellis lived nine months, and made every moment count.

"And I think towards the end, that all of us that knew him and loved him, wanted him to enter the Kingdom, to get there and let the suffering be gone, because he didn't deserve that," Thurman said as she fought back tears.