Michael T. Mondak speaks: Small Battles, Big Victories Epilogue

The most recent post was about the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the bond between Jackson Pryts and Cassie Day.  In this epilogue to the story, Cassie is graduating summa cum laude from Penn State, as class valedictorian determined by her classmates, becoming a meteorologist, getting married, having a baby boy named Jackson and presenting Jackson Pryts to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Four years had passed quietly, but the memories never dimmed.

A soft breeze swept across the rolling green hills of Happy Valley as the bell tower of Old Main chimed the noon hour. Cassie Day stood in her blue cap and gown, her hands trembling slightly as she approached the podium to address the graduates. The same hands that once held balloons in a hospital room would soon hold her degree in meteorology from Penn State University — summa cum laude, class valedictorian as determined by her classmates, and forever a Nittany Lion.

Her family filled the stands, waving and calling her name. In the front row, Jackson Pryts sat beside her fiancé Michael Anderson, both beaming with pride. Jackson had long since retired from football — a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his career defined not just by tackles and trophies, but by heart and humility.  Michael and Cassie had met three years prior due to a mutual interest in science.  Now they had a mutual interest in each other.

Cassie had come a long way from when she had been in the hospital with cancer.  She told her fellow graduates and all those in attendance the same words Jackson had told her all those years ago: “Big victories come from small battles.  That was my senior quote in high school.  Now, it’s the phrase that keeps me grounded, thanks to a friend of mine who played his heart out for me at Beaver Stadium and in the Super Bowl, Jackson Pryts.”

Jackson wiped a tear from his eye.

When the ceremony ended, Cassie, now with her degree in hand and tassel adjusted, hugged Jackson tightly. “You told me once that big victories come from small battles,” she said softly. “You were right.”

Jackson smiled. “Nah, Cassie. You proved it.”

Two months later, in an elaborate wedding ceremony at the Church of Notre Dame in Hermitage, the pediatric cancer survivor-turned-up and coming meteorologist married her college sweetheart, Michael Anderson.  The ceremony was presided by Father John Miller and Deacon Frank Hannah.  Jackson stood proudly nearby in his tuxedo, with his eight year old son Andrew serving as ring bearer.

Fourteen months after that wedding, Cassie Day Anderson the meteorologist for WTAJ gave birth to a son, appropriately named Jackson, for her friend who she inspired.  At baby Jackson’s baptism, Jackson Pryts stood beside as a proud godfather.

The following August, the cameras flashed under bright sunshine. Reporters, fans, and Hall of Famers were gathered at 2100 George Halas Drive in Canton, Ohio, for the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The crowd hushed as Cassie took the stage as the official presenter for her lifelong friend. Her voice trembled at first, then found strength, the same way she had found it years ago.

“Jackson Pryts,” she said, smiling through tears, “wasn’t just a linebacker. He was a leader, a believer, and a big brother to a little girl who once dreamed of sunny skies. He taught me that even when storms come, the sun still shines again.”

Jackson stepped to the podium as the crowd rose in ovation. He looked out across the audience — and there, in the front row, Cassie held her baby boy in her arms. His tiny blue-and-white hat was slightly too big for his head, and his eyes sparkled just like hers.

The godfather smiled, overcome with emotion. “There’s no greater honor than being remembered by the people who believed in you first,” Jackson said. “This isn’t my Hall of Fame moment — it’s ours.”

He pointed toward Cassie, then held his heart.  Cassie responded in the same way.

As the ceremony ended, Cassie looked up at the sky — a flawless summer blue with drifting white clouds. The kind she used to dream of forecasting when she was in the hospital with cancer.

She turned to Michael, her husband, and whispered, “He made it. We all did.”

And in that moment — with the crowd cheering, the banners waving, and the sunshine breaking through the afternoon — Cassie felt the full circle of it all.

The battles.

The victories.

The friendship that outlasted time.

A story that began with courage, ended with gratitude — and lived on in the hearts of everyone who ever believed.

Small Battles, Big Victories.

And what became of the Oscar-winning film Cassie & Jackson: A Championship Bond?

Ten years after the movie swept the major Oscars, because the movie was culturally, historically and aesthetically significant, it was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry alongside the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Night of the Living Dead and Grease, among many others.  Cassie Day Anderson and Jackson Pryts are now proud to say that one day they will tell their children and grandchildren that their story of friendship and resilience was culturally, historically and aesthetically significant indeed.

It was not about victories on the field.  It was about the battles won on and off the field.  Joe Paterno was right… Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.