Tony Gwynn -- Hit Hard

Outside the Lines (Sunday, March 27, 2011, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)
ESPN.com

In August, 50-year-old Hall of Famer and former San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn underwent surgery for a malignant tumor in his mouth. Now the head coach at his alma mater, San Diego State, Gwynn talks with Tom Friend of Outside the Lines about the fears he had for his future and the battle he waged against a cancer he attributes to his addiction to smokeless tobacco. Gwynn also recalls how he broke down when he told his team the news that he had cancer.

"He really looked straight in my eyes and he said, 'I'm dying?'" -- Alicia (Mrs. Tony) Gwynn, on breaking the news of the cancer diagnosis to her husband

"I didn't have control of my face the way I'd like to, couldn't control my eye, couldn't control my mouth. You don't know if you're going to be able to smile again." -- Gwynn, post-surgery

"I hate to say it, but yeah, I'm a tobacco junkie. It's frustrating, because I know a lot of guys who have tried to quit, and just tried to quit cold turkey, and I tried that and it didn't really work for me. I feel like a criminal sometimes because I had nights where I got up in the middle of the night at two o'clock and everybody's sleeping, and I got in the car and I drive down to the Circle-K or 7-11 to get a can and the lady behind the counter doesn't want to sell me a can because she knows what I'm doing to myself." -- Tony Gwynn, in a 1997 ESPN interview

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