EASTON, Pa. – Like old times, Kendall Hochman stood alone, outside his circle of friends, kicking a football into a net on warm, windless Saturday afternoon.
The former Easton High and Pennsylvania University kicker was preparing for today’s initial Gatorade Replay game, pitting the 1993 prep teams from Easton and bitter rival Phillipsburg (N.J.) at Lafayette College.
While his childhood pals hooted and hollered on the practice field behind him, Hochman placed the ball on a tee, took a couple steps backward and to the side, focused and kicked, focused and kicked, focused and kick.
Hochman was also a soccer and basketball player at Easton.
Photo courtesy of Steve Boyle/Gatorade
The thud coming off his foot was repetitive, monotonous and unglamorous.
The process, like always, was isolated, detached and even a bit lonely.
“But it’s what you have to do,” he said. “It’s the life of a kicker.”
He's drawn on that life as a cancer patient.
Diagnosed with acute leukemia five years ago Hochman faced regular and painstaking treatments.
Love and support were abound, but shots to the spine, chemotherapy and radiation treatments were laborious, painstaking and ravaging.
And they couldn’t be shared.
He took an indefinite medical leave from his New York City securities analyst and portfolio manager post to endure 2½ years of chemotherapy.
“The treatments are brutal,” Hochman’s best friend, former teammate Jesse Wright said. “As a friend you feel helpless. It takes a strong and willful person to get through it.”
The disease is in complete remission now and though his body and energy level aren’t once what they were, Hochman’s spirit and drive have never been stronger.
Especially with this unique opportunity to re-live glory days on the horizon.
Hochman’s low athletic moment was a 27-yard field goal attempt that was blocked by Philipsburg’s Tim Flynn with 4 minutes, 5 minutes remaining in a 7-7 tie in 1993.
Gatorade officials picked this game to replay not only based on the storied 103-game rivalry between towns divided by the Delaware River, but because the contest ended deadlocked and now these early 30-something bunch can undue some unfinished business.
Hochman, 32, is indeed the poster boy for a game built on redemption and second chances.
“Yes, I think I know a lot about second chances,” he said. “Being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease at 27 is a unique situation to be in.”
Though like the rest of the 70 players who are hell bent on beating their rivals, Hochman is quite clear now that all games and scoreboards are secondary.
Cancer certainly taught him that.
“Coming to terms with your own mortality at a relatively young age teaches you different things about life,” he said. “It’s really about trying to savor every moment.
“So fast forward to this opportunity. … This game is going to be awesome. It’s going to be great. I hope we win and I hope it’s the result we want. But frankly, it’s so much more than that. It’s about being out here with the guys. The guys I grew up with.”
And the one he’s always been closest too is Wright, who was the holder on that fateful 1993 Thanksgiving Day who held for him at Saturday’s practice.
Hochman has relied on Wright far more than just taking snaps.
Photo courtesy of Steve Boyle/Gatorade
Wright, a conditioning coach for the Philadelphia 76ers, was the best man when Hochman wed last summer. Hochman will be the co-best man at Wright’s wedding this summer.
Instead of passing rings, they hope to for clean snap exchanges today. Wright hasn’t been able to make any of the practices over the last eight weeks so Saturday was the first time the two had worked together in 16 years.
“It was kind of like riding a horse,” Hochman said. “I was worried our rhythum would be off but it wasn’t at all.
“The thing is this is just such an awesome thing for this opportunity for me and my holder and best friend to do this thing again we did in our prime. I mean this isn’t something we could replicate at a barbecue or something.”
Over the years, the two have shared much more than grilled chicken or kicking a ball. Wright supported his friend through every step and snap of the cancer process.
“The first night of his treatment five years ago he promised me two things,” Wright said. “He said he was going to beat cancer and he was going to marry Wendy (his wife).
“Based on the success he had as a student and an athlete and just who he is I knew then he would keep both promises.”
Flynn, though pretty much only an acquaintance of Hochman, said he greatly admires his cross-river rival and has been rooting for him.
“From everything I’ve heard, he’s a real fighter and that’s a good thing,” Flynn said Saturday. “I have a lot of respect for him. We’re all very happy his illness is in remission.”
Flynn paused for a moment and with a big grin said: “But I’m still going to try to block his kick tomorrow.”
Hochman wouldn’t want it any other way.
That’s partly why he so diligently practiced and focused on Saturday, going through his repetitions.
He still recalls the blocked kick vividly, but he hasn’t been kicking himself all this time. By all accounts, Hochman’s kick was true but Flynn simply made a fantastic move and went in untouched.
“Initially I was just confused by the whole thing,” Hochman said. “When it left my foot it felt good but then I looked over and the ball was on the ground. I was like ‘what?’
“It was the most disappointing moment of my athletic career but it isn’t like I’ve been stewing over it for 16 years. It was a team play and we’re a team and we were all disappointed.”
He paused and laughed.
“Plus I was a lot cockier back then and probably didn’t acknowledge it,” he said. “A healthy amount of cockiness can save you from a bad experience.”
Hochman said he was actually upbeat after the block.
“There were still four or five minutes left and I figured I’d get another chance,” he said.
It didn’t come that day, but it might today.
And surely every day after.
Look for more color on the Gatorade Replay game later today and tomorrow and click here.
Renewing friendships in the Replay Game has helped refresh Hochman's vigor for life.
Photo courtesy of Steve Boyle/Gatorade
