Scott Hamilton’s biggest challenges came away from the ice

Scott Hamilton sat comfortably on a Davenport Grand couch Monday and spoke freely about his bout with cancer, fatherhood and the sport that once made him more famous than Michael Jordan.

Hamilton captured the world’s attention more than 30 years ago as he won the 1984 Olympic gold medal for figure skating amidst a four-year run as the world champion.

While he remains an ambassador for the sport – he was in town as U.S. Figure Skating announced Team North America for the upcoming Team Challenge Cup – the 57-year-old father of four now puts much of his energy toward finding better ways to fight cancer.

“With my CARES Foundation, we are going to dedicate all of our planning, engagement and fund raising toward developing treatment options that treat the cancer and spare the patient,” he said. “If I can live long enough, I want to have influence on making chemo therapy go away.”

Hamilton was diagnosed in 1997 with testicular cancer, which came at the height of his professional career. But it was a sport that largely chose him as a result of another undiagnosed problem as a child that stunted his growth.

“The only reason I ever got into skating was because I stopped growing and I went through this childhood illness that never went diagnosed,” he said. “It remained a mystery.”

Hamilton then stopped performing in 2004 because he knew something was wrong with his body.

“I started feeling different. I decided to go in and get it checked out,” he said.

The doctors discovered a benign pituitary brain tumor called a craniopharyngioma, which they believed existed from Hamilton’s birth.

“They usually show themselves as a lack of growth and development in children,” Hamilton said. “Mystery solved.”

In 2010, Hamilton underwent surgery to have the tumor removed to avoid potential loss of sight.

“I’ve had 19 years since my diagnosis (for testicular cancer), so I’m kind of grateful for chemotherapy,” he said. “But I also know that the after effects of all that chemotherapy are going to show up any day now.”

Most of the world knows Hamilton for the performances he put on the ice. In 1993, an Associated Press poll indicated that Hamilton had an even more recognizable name than Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Nolan Ryan.

But just like figure skating in general, Hamilton is largely unknown to younger generations.

“In the 90s, we were just absolutely killing it. That was right after my cancer survival. That brought a lot of media attention,” he said. “I had lot of people pulling at me. They wanted me to take what I was going through and try to monetize it. I refused to do it.

“I realized the only way to sustain, if you put yourself out in the public, is be genuine.”

He now focuses his efforts on raising four children with his wife in Franklin, Tenn., and the foundation, which seeks the latest technology and methods to treat cancer.

“Many athletes think that (gold medal) is the destination,” he said. “My medal lived in my sock drawer in a brown paper bag for six years. Finally I was inducted into the World Figure Skating (Museum and) Hall of Fame and I gave them everything.”

Life after the podium is the most important, he said.

“Winning a gold medal opens up opportunities,” he said. “But you’ve got to work harder than ever. If you want to be the best at anything, the level of commitment is the same.”

A man forever associated with skating greatness said he would rather be remembered as a crusader who helped conquer a disease that rips families apart all over the world.

“We want to drive collaborative research, tear down every silo and make sure people are sharing their research,” he said. “We want to create a way for the body to fight off the cancer on its own and spare your quality of life.

“That’s what I’m doing now.”