Scot Pollard was standing in Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and trying not to cry.
The NBA champion and “Survivor” contestant was talking about meeting the family of Casey Angell, whose heart was now beating inside Pollard's chest. Angell's sister brought a stethoscope.
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“She touched my chest. She listened and she started crying. She said, ‘Hey, Bubba,’ because that’s what she used to call him,” Pollard said. “And we all lost it. And I’m losing it right now.”
A first-round draft pick who took Kansas to the NCAA Sweet 16 four years in a row and won it all with the 2008 Boston Celtics, Pollard was virtually bedridden by 2024, unable to walk around the block or even conduct an interview without needing a rest because of a virus that had weakened his heart.
Since receiving the life-saving transplant last winter, he has dedicated himself to raising awareness of organ donation, a mission that earned him the honor of serving as the Grand Marshal for the Indy 500 Festival Parade on Saturday. Angell's family rode along on the float with him.
“Any time we get to see them and be around them is a great moment,” Pollard said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “But also just to be able to share this experience of being grand marshal with them, and be part of their lives.”
At 6-foot-11 and a playing weight of 260 pounds, Pollard inherited his size from his father along with a genetic heart condition that doctors say was triggered by a virus that left him no other choice but a transplant. The problem would be finding a donor organ big enough to pump blood throughout his NBA center-sized body.
Six hundred miles away, in East Texas, Angell was on life support with pneumonia brought on by a respiratory illness.
“We made the decision that we were letting go, and they came to us within about 30 minutes and asked about donation,” said Megan Tyra, who works as an administrator at the hospital where her brother died. “We saw the heart leave, going out the door, and all we were told was that it was headed to Tennessee.”
To protect everyone’s privacy, organ recipients can only learn about their donors – and vice versa – through a system that requires both sides to agree. Pollard was told that most people don't hear back, but he wrote a note anyway. Angell’s family responded.
(In addition to his heart, Casey Angell’s corneas and his kidneys were donated. The family was told the other recipients were two 17-year-olds and a 48- and a 49-year-old; they have not heard from any of the other recipients.)
“Casey was a nosy dude. He always wanted to be in the know,” Tyra said with a laugh. “And so when we got that first letter from Scot, … we were grateful that Scot wanted to know about Casey. Him and (his wife) Dawn have been so sweet and kind, (saying) ‘You’re part of our family now.’”
They set up a meeting in Texas this March. Tyra was there with her husband, Clint; Angell’s wife, Pam; and her son William, who is now 13. Pollard brought his family — and cameras to record the event for a TV documentary.
“To say the least, it was a tad bit overwhelming,” Tyra said in a telephone interview this week from Indianapolis. “We never did this for anything other than who Casey was, a helper, a guy who would help anyone do anything. So it’s a little bit surreal, a little bit overwhelming. But (Scot) and Dawn make it easy.”
Pollard, who turned 50 in February a few days after celebrating his one-year anniversary with the new heart, said that since receiving the transplant he has suffered from survivor's guilt — the doubt that he was worthy of such a gift: “It’s a challenge, because I’ve got to live right. There’s a face, and I know what he looks like and I know who he was, and the family. And so there's that pressure.”
Angell’s family, he said, helped save him twice.
“There were a lot of days I was crying like, ‘I don’t know if I deserve this,’” Pollard said. “And then when they responded, and I got to know them, and I learned a lot more about Casey, it definitely helped. He has helped a whole lot with the healing. Not just emotionally, obviously.”
Pollard is hoping the documentary and the other media attention he brings as a former pro athlete will persuade people to consider organ donation. Last month, he spoke at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and received a standing ovation from a convention center full of doctors, including his own; that night, he attended a Celtics playoff game and got another big cheer when he received a shoutout on the scoreboard.
Pollard, who spent two of his 11 NBA seasons with the Indiana Pacers and settled near Indianapolis, was booked for a breakfast with the governor as part of the Indy 500 festivities this weekend along with some other meet-and-greets. He will watch the race — known as the Greatest Spectacle in Racing — on Sunday in a suite with Angell's family.
“We're excited about the fact that we’re honoring Casey, and who Casey was. So it’s all about Casey, and the sacrifice Casey made,” Tyra said. “We’re grateful that Scot wanted us to meet, and wants us to be a part of this and that he’s doing so much for organ donation. It’s amazing.
“You know, we never thought our little smalltown selves would be here for the Indy 500," she said. “But here we are.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing