Now He’s Rolling : Cancer Slowed but Didn’t Stop New Duck Assistant Coach Walt Kyle

Walt Kyle figured he was bulletproof, invincible. Then cancer threatened to kill him.

“I want to say the first time was in 1985 and I was probably 27,” said Kyle, a Mighty Duck assistant coach.

“Bone cancer. I had a tumor in my rib. They removed it [the cancerous rib] and I underwent a year and a half of chemotherapy. Then the cancer came back again in my lung and I went back into chemo.”

Like many in their 20s, Kyle believed nothing could stop him. True, his playing days were over, but now he was an assistant coach at Northern Michigan, his alma mater.

He was strong, in the prime of his life.

Death was a rumor.

Talk about a wake-up call.

“My mother and father both had tuberculosis. They met in a TB sanitarium,” said Kyle, now 40. “My mother was there for six years. When I would say, ‘Why me?’ My mother would say, ‘Why not you? You’ve got to fight through it. There are worse things that can happen.’

“As it turned out, it was one of the best things to happen to me. I met my wife, for one thing. She was my lab tech. You know, she took my blood, things like that, when I was in the hospital.

“We were blessed again later when we found out I couldn’t have kids because of the chemo. We adopted two kids who mean more to me than anything in the world.

“It always hits me that there’s a plan in life. Someone has a plan for you.

“It was definitely a shock, though. It was like, ‘OK, operate, take it [the cancerous rib] out and I’ll be OK.’ They said, ‘That’s not really the way it works, Walt.’ ”

Kyle coached when he could, went to his chemo treatments when he had to and seldom pondered other jobs elsewhere. He was as content as possible.

“I continued to work while I was going through it,” he said. “I was real sick because of the chemo sometimes. I’d miss a day, then be back. It kind of delayed my career advancement for a little bit.

“I’ve been clean [of cancer] now for seven years.”

He didn’t feel comfortable job hunting because he worried about losing the support system at Northern Michigan. He wasn’t sure anyone would want to hire a coach with cancer.

Staying at Northern Michigan provided at least one major reward, however. In 1991, Northern Michigan won the NCAA Division I championship.

By then Kyle’s cancer was in remission. He began to get interesting job offers. One was to be coach of the U.S. junior team in 1992.

“I knew his father first,” said Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira, who also was involved with USA Hockey when Kyle began coaching the national junior team in ’92.

“I got to know Walt pretty well after he began coaching. I’d see him when I was on scouting trips and he was on recruiting trips. He sounded out a lot things with me.”

In particular, Kyle pressed Ferreira about leaving the college ranks to move to the junior level. Ferreira thought it would be an excellent idea.

“He was a good coach and it was the perfect place for him,” Ferreira said. “He had been a little hesitant because he wondered what people would think about his condition. He went through a lot there for about four or five years.”

Ferreira did his best to help Kyle realize he was a good coach and could be even better if he made a move.

“I’d send him books to read,” Ferreira said. “A lot of self-motivational-type stuff. Once the cancer was in remission and he got the opportunity to go, he went.

“The big step was when he went to Seattle.”

Certainly, there was no question in Ferreira’s mind that Kyle could handle the challenge. Kyle had the knowledge and the passion.

“He’d always start out coaching with his sports coat on, but by the third period he would be in the shirt sleeves no matter how cold the building was,” Ferreira said. “He was always so into the game.”

In 1992, after 10 seasons at Northern Michigan, Kyle accepted a position as coach of the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.

Things then began moving rather quickly.

Ferreira hired Kyle to coach the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League, the Ducks’ top farm team, in 1994. Kyle spent one more year in the minors, coaching the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League, then joined Coach Ron Wilson’s staff this season.

“Once the opportunity was there [to hire a new assistant], there was never any question who we would go after,” Ferreira said. “It was more of a question of who would go to Baltimore [to replace Kyle].”

In many ways, Kyle’s slow-paced career track has helped him become a more well-rounded NHL assistant coach.

“We get all types of players and he’s worked with them all,” Ferreira said.

To understand the impact Kyle has on young players, you need to look at Duck defenseman Jason Marshall. Marshall was stuck in the minors, falling short of his potential until Kyle got ahold of him. By season’s end last spring, Marshall had evolved into one of the Ducks’ top defensemen.

“The difference in Jason Marshall is Walt Kyle,” team President Tony Tavares said. “Walt Kyle should be an inspiration to any young player.”

Said Marshall: “His best quality as a coach is he’s such a great teacher. He does a lot of one-on-one stuff with players, a lot of video. He’s the first coach to really do that with me.”

Don’t get the idea Kyle is not above kicking his players in the tail, figuratively, of course, if need be.

“He’ll sit you down and say, ‘Hey, there’s more you can learn about this game,’ ” Marshall said. “You can tell he knows his hockey. He’s worked his way up and paid his dues and now he’s here.”

Indeed.

At times, the NHL seemed light years away. If that bothered him, Kyle never let on. He was happy at Northern Michigan. Happy at Seattle, San Diego and Baltimore too.

He also was certain that one day he would reach the big time. If he had to work the hinterlands for an extra season or two, well, that was simply going to make coaching in the NHL all the sweeter.

“I didn’t feel any rush,” Kyle said. “I didn’t mind paying my dues as long as I was learning. In the end, I knew where I wanted to go.”

Leaving his comfort zone as a college coach required a leap of faith, but joining the Ducks did not.

“You have to go with people you trust,” Kyle said. “I have a lot of trust in Jack. I believe in what Ron is doing. These are exciting times for this franchise.”

The story ends here and yet it doesn’t. Starting tonight, with Kyle coaching his first NHL game for the Ducks at Toronto, there will be other chapters to be lived and chronicled.

“Somewhere in the future I’d like to be an NHL head coach,” Kyle said. “I never played, never coached [until this season], but this is part of the learning process, part of the growth process.

“And I’m happy to be learning here.”