Texas college football icons Mack Brown and R.C. Slocum lauded at MD Anderson’s A Conversation With a Living Legend® Houston

Led by college football coaching greats Mack Brown and R.C. Slocum, attendees at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s A Conversation With a Living Legend®  Houston united in the mission to end cancer on Feb. 3. The event raised over $1.5 million to benefit cancer research. 

A Conversation with a Living Legend® is MD Anderson’s signature fundraising event and has raised more than $61 million over the past three decades. This year’s event supports Breakthroughs, an initiative of MD Anderson’s largest-ever fundraising effort – the $2.5 billion  comprehensive philanthropic campaign, Only Possible Here, The Campaign to End Cancer. This historic effort already has raised $1.98 billion, accelerating progress in groundbreaking innovations and transformative advancements that define MD Anderson. 

During the intimate maroon and burnt orange-gilded evening, Slocum and Brown shared powerful life lessons, practical jokes and meaningful anecdotes about life, family, football and cancer to a select crowd of over 600 supporters and guests. The conversation between the longtime friends and gridiron rivals was moderated by emcee Randy McIlvoy, sports director for KPRC 2 in Houston.

“There are few things more powerful than those who lead by example in service of a collective goal,” said Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson. “The steadfast commitment of supporters to our mission – and the reminder from Coach Brown and Coach Slocum that cancer affects us all – highlights the continued importance of working together to end cancer.”

This year’s event was chaired by Patty Kelly and T. Mark Kelly, and Catherine Susser and Sam L. Susser. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Kathy Mays Johnson and Bill Johnson, Linda Mays McCaul and Congressman Michael McCaul, Marsha McCombs Shields and John H. Shields served as honorary chairs. John Zerwas, M.D., chancellor for The University of Texas System, also provided welcoming remarks.

Longtime friends share lessons from on and off the gridiron
Brown served as head coach for the Texas Longhorns from 1998 to 2013, leading them to the 2005 BCS National Championship and two Big 12 titles. The winningest coach in Texas A&M football history, Slocum held the head coaching position in College Station from 1989 to 2002.

When asked about the most memorable highlights of their 36-year friendship and coaching careers, events off the field were counted as almost more important than championship wins or losses.

“It’s all about relationships,” Brown said. “R.C. and I know that recruitment is a 40-year investment, not four.”

As fathers, they both saw coaching as the responsibility to shepherd good, respectful college players into successful men. For them, in football and in life, relationships come first. 

Upon winning the national championship in 2005, Brown told his team, “Don’t make this the greatest day of your life. Use this to become a better student, a better father, a better husband, a better person. It’s about the game of life.”

Both coaches also shared their personal reverence and appreciation for MD Anderson, having been connected to the institution in significant ways. Slocum encountered a challenge  in his own “game of life” when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2021, seeking support for treatment  through MD Anderson. Through the diligence of his care team, he was declared cancer-free the following year. 

“Everyone connected with my treatment, including those in the hallway and the janitorial crew, everyone was a helper. Everybody – 100%. I had not one single negative experience at MD Anderson,” Slocum said. “The people there are the best. They were there every step of the way, and I’m so thankful to be here.”

Brown described a “countless number of stories" featuring loved ones impacted by the quality of care they received as patients at MD Anderson, including Slocum.

“Just to simply see how sick R.C. was and to know we really weren’t sure whether he was going to be here or not, and to be sitting with him here today? MD Anderson’s a miracle place that makes miracles happen and saves so many lives,” Brown said. “MD Anderson changes lives and saves lives – that's pretty powerful.”