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The Ron Rivera Story

CarolinaPanthers8789

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CarolinaPanthers8789

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Link: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/11/3375708/all-about-the-journey.html

There they are, just getting started: On a muggy summer afternoon in uptown Charlotte, a tall, imposing man slides a brown leather mitt over his left hand and perches on an upturned bucket. His dark eyes crinkle when he smiles at his daughter, tan and fit, standing about 30 feet from him and holding a neon yellow softball.

She pitches. The ball hits his mitt with a pop.

“There you go,” he says, throwing it back.

It’s one of those all-American father-daughter scenes.

A rising sophomore at the University of California at Los Angeles, the 19-year-old girl, Courtney, works out with her father regularly. But they’re not in a backyard. They’re on a manicured field in an empty stadium built to hold 74,000. And were anyone to happen upon the scene, they wouldn’t see an ordinary dad.

This is Ron Rivera, head coach of the Carolina Panthers, with whom rests the hope of faithful fans who’ve longed for a Playoffs-bound team that would crush opponents with double-digit wins and dominate the highlight reels.

But after a bipolar eight seasons with former Coach John Fox – marked by euphoric highs (a trip to Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2003) and excruciating lows (a 2-14 season in 2010) – team owner Jerry Richardson and weary Panthers fans were ready for a fresh start.

They got that in 2011.

When Rivera left his post as defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers to be the head coach of the Panthers, he joined a team that would draft rookie quarterback Cam Newton, a franchise-defining player who shattered NFL records and was named to the Pro-Bowl.

Rivera was the master puppeteer.

But to his two kids, Christopher and Courtney, he’s just a doting dad who has always encouraged them to follow their passions.

And to his wife of 27 years, he’s just Ron, the 50-year-old gentleman who approached her at a frozen yogurt shop nearly three decades ago.

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