Thanksgiving Throwback: The 25-Year Anniversary of Sean Elliott's Kidney Transplant

A look back at how the player behind the “Memorial Day Miracle,” arguably the most famous shot in San Antonio Spurs history, became the first NBA player to return to play following a transplant.

Former San Antonio Spurs standout Sean Elliott / University of Arizona

From the spring of 1998 into the fall of 2000, I was the first, and turns out only, Phoenix-based sports reporter/columnist for the Tucson Citizen. One of my side projects for a regional magazine was to follow Sean Elliott throughout the 1999-2000 NBA season and interview him every time he visited with the San Antonio Spurs. However, the magazine folded and I left the newspaper before the full article could be published. A version appeared in the 2006 book, "No Time Outs: What It's Really Like to be a Sportswriter Today" but this is the first time it'll appear online or with a news service. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. — Christopher Walsh , San Antonio Spurs On SI publisher

“Relax,” he kept telling himself.

“It’s just another game.”

  “You can do this.”

“This is the easy part.”

“You’ve come so far.”

“Calm down.”

“Relax,” Sean Elliott told himself for the seemingly millionth time. Pre-game jitters were something he had dealt with on countless occasions before. Everything was in place. He was ready. His mother Odiemae even cooked his favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs. He had prepared. He had trained. It was time.

But it wasn’t just another basketball game. Such a thing would again never exist for the former University of Arizona standout. No one had ever come back from a kidney transplant to play professional sports before. No one had even tried.

Millions of fans wanted to welcome him back to the court. Thousands had packed the Alamodome just to see the 6-foot-8 forward wear the black and silver again. Every television station from Tucson was on hand to see No. 32 run the floor. Friends and family who had traveled to hear his name announced over the loudspeakers filled forty-six seats. One in particular came to see the first basket and had paid an admission price far greater than the rest combined.

 Noel Elliott, the brother who donated the kidney that gave Elliott back his game, his life, wouldn’t have missed the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Atlanta Hawks on March 14, 2000 for anything. Only he would be in the spotlight as much as his younger sibling.

“Relax,” Sean Elliott said again.

Finally, the journey back was over. Just 212 days after the transplant, Elliott walked out of the locker room and back into the NBA.

He had defied medical precedent, ignored the advice of so-called experts and cast away the doubters once again.

Sean Elliott was back. Now he just needed to prove he still belonged.

Tucson’s favorite son

Anyone who hasn’t lived in Tucson just doesn’t get what Sean Elliott means to that community. We’re talking a Larry Bird and French Lick, Ind., kind of affair. Even rookie residents who just relocated there know Elliott is Tucson and Tucson is Elliott. He does anything and it’s front-page news in both newspapers.

Some like to joke that the locals treat Arizona men’s basketball coach Lute Olson like a minor deity who can do no wrong. The court at the McKale Center has been renamed for he and wife Bobbi, who lost her life to cancer. But Elliott is Tucson’s No. 1 son, and that has a different and special kind of love altogether. Remember when every news organization was listing their local athletes for the last century? The question in Tucson was “Who’s No. 2?” as the hometown hero led the Wildcats to their first Final Four in 1988. Some other guy named Kenny Lofton was on that team too, and many UA fans have yet to figure out that he’s playing pro baseball.

Even before the kidney thing, Elliott was already a legend. His high school, Cholla, renamed the gymnasium after him. Just about any Tucson sports fan could tell you Elliott wears a size 13.5 Nike, his middle name is Michael and the nickname “Ninja.” Elliott holds a series of basketball camps in Tucson and Japan every summer. Like many other athletes, he enjoys eating at a local Japanese steakhouse (where his headlines and photos help cover the walls), has a serious car collection, owns more than 100 fish, six snakes and two lizards, and likes video games.

His three favorite movies? That’s an easy one, “Shawshank Redemption,” “Aliens” and “Silence of the Lambs.” Don’t get into statistics unless you don’t have time to kill. Elliott finished his college career as the Pac-10’s all-time leading scorer with 2,555 points (UCLA’s Don MacLean was first to break it with 2,608) and had the first basketball jersey retired at UA.

As a senior, Elliott averaged 22.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. He was named College Player of the Year by nearly every news organization and won the prestigious Wooden Award. As a junior, he averaged 19.6 points and 5.8 rebounds and named All-American. Elliott scored double figures in 128 of 133 college games. Just don’t mention knee injuries.

Dec 1987; Unknown location, USA, FILE PHOTO; Arizona Wildcats guard Sean Elliott (32) in action during the 1987-88 season. / Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

That’s why the first time he showed up at America West Arena after the transplant people drove up to see Elliott in a sharp silver suit as he was doing color commentary for San Antonio television broadcasts. It was Nov. 7, 1999, and Elliott could only be described as restless as he paced and scanned the media notes at least 10 times in the visitor’s locker room. He was even worse on press row.

“Hey Sean,” a teammate asked, “don’t you have to tape up to be on TV?”

“Ya, right,” came the response. “That’s the worst part about game nights, the waiting around.”

 That night, like many others, the Spurs really could have used him. While the Phoenix Suns were able to scrape out a 77-74 victory, the soft-spoken 31-year-old was left peering into the stands, looking for his older brother.

“Thanks for coming,” Elliott said with a hug when he finally caught up to the man who gave up his left kidney. Like he needed to say anything at all.

Never say never

When the Spurs raised their championship banner on the same night San Antonio voters approved funding for a new arena — which he campaigned for diligently on his own despite the weakened condition — Elliott nearly stole the show receiving his championship ring and addressed the crowd on behalf of the players.

“I try not to think about it too much” Elliott said of a return to the lineup. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. People will watch everything I do. ‘Oh he’s tired. Look at him, he’s tired.’ Everyone will scrutinize everything I do.

“That’s OK.”

The controversy was already brewing, however. Those who didn’t know Elliott found it hard to believe that he was serious about a comeback. But in Tucson, they knew. If Sean said he was coming back and playing basketball again, then he was coming back and playing basketball again. It was that simple.

It wasn’t to the Spurs. Elliott had two years left on his contract valued at $11.2 million, which included a clause giving the team an out the final year should he develop kidney problems. Liability was a question and the Spurs made Elliott sign a waiver before he did anything. Quietly, the organization decided to put every conceivable roadblock in his way. They couldn’t afford not to as Sean would have to completely and overwhelmingly convince everyone, from the owners down to the trainers, that he could play and put up with the physical demands of the NBA.

The biggest question was stamina, and the more active Elliott became in training, the more he became a slave to his condition. By November, when he had originally hoped to be nearly ready to return to practice, Elliott could barely run the length of the floor before having to sit down.

“My stamina is absolutely nothing right now,” said Elliott, who knows the road to recovery well as he’s returned from two debilitating knee injuries and before last season missed 50 total games the two previous years. “My strength is good, I can move fine. I can run up and down the court two times, literally, and I’m exhausted.

“My doctors told me the only thing holding me back is me and my stamina.”

Talk of a December return was quickly pushed back to January, to no schedule at all. Elliott had resigned himself to the fact that if he couldn’t complete the comeback this season, he probably wouldn’t make it back at all. The gap in playing time would be just too great to overcome.

“He’s itching to get back,” said guard Steve Kerr, Elliott’s best friend on the Spurs and a former Wildcat teammate. “The big thing is he has to make sure that he’s all right. Nobody wants to come back for a big ovation if it hurts physically.”

If, if, if.

If he could get back into playing shape. If he could keep up with the game’s sometimes brutal pace. If he didn’t have a setback. There was talk about wearing special padding for extra protection, but two doctors told Elliott it wouldn’t be necessary as the new kidney was tucked in deep behind the pelvic bone.

“If at some point he feels great and the doctors say, ‘OK,’ we’ll probably give it a try. But from a personal standpoint, I’m going to be nervous as hell. I wouldn’t mind seeing him say sayonara if it means he will stay healthy.”

- Gregg Popovich

Enter the Spurs training facilities, where Elliott became a fixture in October, doing everything from weight training to cardiovascular workouts, running, biking, even a little basketball. Within a month, he was back up to his playing weight of 220 pounds.

“It’s coming slower than what I’m accustomed to,” he said. “The biggest thing is hydration. It’s a lot more critical for me than most people.

“I’ll get my chance. My conditioning’s going to get there. But you can’t tell if I can come back or not until I get out there and mix it up.”

The kidney and the brother

Elliott learned in 1993 that he had focal glomerulosclerosis, which prevents the kidneys from properly filtering waste from the blood. If untreated, it can cause exhaustion, fatigue, weight loss and nausea. Often a transplant is required if the kidneys deteriorate.

The small forward says he looked “huge” in the face because of medication during his season in Detroit (1993-94), and that was “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of side effects. The condition thwarted a trade to Houston in 1994 because he failed the physical. When San Antonio reacquired him from Detroit five months later, the kidney clause was inserted into his contract.

 Although Elliott knew in the back of his mind that he might develop further problems, he didn’t think it could ever end his career. That is until he had a routine checkup last March and doctors used the word “transplant” for the first time. Because the condition wasn’t immediately life threatening, Elliott kept playing. The only person he told in the organization was Kerr, and not until late into the playoffs. Not even Elliott’s mother knew how serious the situation was, and Noel didn’t find out until Elliott was conducting his basketball camp in Tucson.

“He was pretty sick. He didn’t want our mom to worry.”

-  Noel Elliott

“He’s one of the all-time class guys,” Popovich said. “From day one, he wasn’t even sad. He was disappointed that he wasn’t going to play, but one of the comments he made was ‘Why should I feel so bad? There are a gazillion people with this problem who have to stand in line. I have a brother who’s going to give me a kidney, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.’ He always looks at it that way, the positive rather than the negative.

“ ‘My career could be cut short,’ he didn’t even bring that up.”

After not missing a game during the season for the first time in his career, Elliott averaged 11.2 points and was even better in the playoffs (11.9). On May 31, he hit what’s now called the Memorial Day Miracle, an off-balance, 24-foot three-pointer from the corner while falling out of bounds. The basket, with 9 seconds left in the game, gave the Spurs an 86-85 victory in Game 2 of the Conference Finals against Portland, as San Antonio recorded a 15-2 postseason mark and won its first championship. Elliott didn’t start to slow down until the Finals against the New York Knicks. Two days after the hardware was in hand, an ultrasound confirmed a transplant was needed as soon as possible. Elliott, who had just chased Latrell Sprewell for five games, was weeks away from requiring dialysis.

“I think that puzzled the doctors,” Kerr said. “People in that condition often have a hard time just getting out of bed, never mind play in the NBA. It’s pretty amazing.”

“I’ve always been pretty good at dealing with distractions. You know, I played a year with Dennis Rodman,” said Elliott, who was once traded for the former rebounding king. “How many more distractions can you have?”

The search began, but quickly came back home as tests concluded Noel was a suitable donor. He never hesitated, and outside of a little scar tissue life hasn’t changed much for the older brother. He spent nearly a month laid up, but needed another three weeks to return to work.

“I’m a little more recognizable,” said Noel Elliott, who still lives in Tucson, but could see his brother’s broadcasts using their mother’s satellite dish. “I’ll be doing something or walking down the street and someone will figure out who I am. It’s all right.”

Getting stronger

The next time Elliott visited Phoenix, the change was remarkable. He walked through a team shoot-around, did a little running in a practice gym and even played some pick-up ball. At that point, Jan. 7, it was one of the toughest workouts he had endured since the Aug. 16 transplant, yet Elliott was itching for more. He wanted to practice with teammates.

“That point is coming very soon and it’s not going to be a situation of ‘Can I?’ It’s, ‘I’m going to.”

Between visits, Elliott had endured a nasty case of pneumonia, caused in part by his weakened immune system after months of medication and rehabilitation. It caused him to enter a hospital for four days in December, just after he had returned to the gym.

“I’ve started some days with the best of intentions and can’t get it done,” he said. “I just don’t have the energy, or I should say the stamina. I try and do something every day.”

 Still, the difference was “night and day.” Elliott could run a couple of miles on a treadmill, and lift weights. Physically, he was almost like an athlete again.

 “I felt really good, but it didn’t take too long to hit the wall and hit it hard,” he said. “I run the same conditioning tests that the guys run before training camp. It just takes me a lot longer to recover.”

Still, the Spurs remained cautious. Popovich was openly doubtful, but a lot more supportive behind the scenes. He wanted Elliott to succeed, but had to balance the responsibilities of friend and coach.

“We’re trying to be hard on him about it because we’re more concerned about his health,” said Popovich, who came into the league with Elliott 11 years ago. “I’m putting as many obstacles in front of him as I can, so if he does decide to come back he’s thought about everything in the world before he does it. I think that’s my responsibility, not just as a coach, but I’ve known the guy for what seems like a hundred years. I feel awfully close to him.”

This time San Antonio beat Phoenix 102-83, but again the Spurs were clearly missing their man in the clutch and perfect compliment to the twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan. With Elliott, their most versatile player — a big man who can ball-handle like a guard — passing improves, defenders have another big threat to worry about and the Spurs play with a lot more confidence.

“We’ve been struggling,” Kerr said. “We got off to a great start at 14-3, but since then we’ve sort of lost it. It seems like we don’t have the fire to win games. Some of it is missing Sean Elliott. He’s a huge loss for us.”

“We just haven’t finished games as well as last year,” said the coach, whose team was also marked after winning the title. “Either we had poor shooting nights or turnovers down the stretch, games that we would have won. I think for a while, it was learning to play without Sean because he was the guy who broke down defenses for us. He also made stops for us on the defensive end and we don’t have him anymore.

“It’s a fine line. It’s a really fine line.”

Another miracle

When Popovich had Elliott announced in the starting lineup the first night back, the sellout crowd went wild, and there were few dry eyes. Even the Hawks and game officials got into the act, each shaking Elliott’s hand as walked on the court as if they were reunited with a long-lost favorite brother. Dikembe Mutumbo gave a hug just before tipoff.

Minutes into the game, Elliott fell to the floor following a collision with the 7-2 center and three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, causing a collective gasp from the 26,078 fans on hand. But none of those present had seen the going over teammates had given him in practice, just to be sure. No foul and no harm, Elliott jumped up, smiled and kept playing.

The first physical shot had been taken, now it was time for the first basket. Earlier, Elliott smelled a tomahawk jam, but launched himself too early and came up a foot short. In the opening moments of the third quarter, a finger roll slid off the front of the rim.

“Relax,” he told himself, yet once again.

Then it came. Like so many times before, Elliott got a quick step on his defender _ in this case Roshown McLeod _ and drove the lane for a thunderous dunk as if to scream “I’m back!” Few announcements have ever been as loud as the noise in the dome was deafening. It was the second miracle basket for Elliott in less than a year.

 “It was a goose-bumpy kind of deal,” said Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs, a San Antonio resident and one of Elliott’s biggest supporters. “It’s a story that’s far beyond sports. It’s a story of heart. It’s a story of the medical greatness that we’ve got in this country.”

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Sean Elliott, No. 32

Elliott spent 11 of his 12 NBA seasons with the Spurs, during which he appeared in 669 regular season games, averaging 14.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He was a two-time All-Star (1993 and 1996). The Spurs retired his No. 32 on March 6, 2005.

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In the 12 minutes Elliott played that night, the Spurs outscored the Hawks 27-14. San Antonio was down by three points when he opened the second half on the floor. It led by five points when he departed seven minutes later. The Spurs won the game, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who remembers the score — except Sean Elliott. It was 94-79.

“I was really surprised that I felt that good on the court,” Elliott said. “Really, the only thing that bothered me were the nerves.

“What happened tonight could affect a lot of people. I hope it tells them not to be afraid.”

Before the night could be complete, Sean and his brother embraced again much to the delight of everyone watching the reunion. Out on the court, in front of fans, the cameras, indeed the world, not a word was spoken. None were needed.

For Noel, the kidney was a small price to pay.

“On a scale of one to 10, I’d say about an 11,” he said. “Very important.”  

Elliott played in only 19 games as part of the 1999–2000 NBA season, but started in 34 of 52 his games during the 2000–01 season while helping the Spurs finish with the best record in the league. He subsequently retired and returned to broadcasting. He eventually finished his degree and graduated from the University of Arizona, fulfilling a promise to his mother, and the Wildcats retired his No. 32 as well. Sean, now 56, and his wife Claudia promote healthy living and are still enjoying watching their two children grow up. The brothers are still close today.

See Also: Sean Elliott Shares Health Update After Atrial Fibrillation Treatment