The player, the coach, the husband, the father

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, and work around it.
- Michael Jordan



 
VANCOUVER - Some people's impact on a community is immeasurable. In the local basketball community John Dumont is one of those people. A star at Vancouver College and for the UBC Thunderbirds, John could fight off bigger players for defensive rebounds as easily as he could attack the rim from the right wing, breeze past defenders with a lightning quick first step and finish deftly with his right hand. Players who truly love a game never stop hustling. They never stop fighting for lose balls or encouraging their teammates when all seems lost. John is one of those players.
 
"John was a really smart player, his basketball IQ is really high. He could do everything well and could score when he had to," says Gerald Cole.
 
Gerald and John met in grade two. The two young boys 'fell in love with the game of basketball' together. They shot baskets almost every day. They played together all through school, university and on provincial and national teams. They were always teammates and best of friends.


 
"John is a role model," continues Gerald. "He is for me and he is for everyone he's touched. The number one thing is John's an amazing person. He's never said a bad word about anybody. He just kind of puts his head down and works hard at his craft. John was really focused on what he wanted to achieve and achieving it with a great level of humility."
 
John's love and passion for basketball defines his life. His wife Trixie is a basketball player. She also played for the UBC Thunderbirds. They have three boys who are all basketball players. John shared his basketball skills with his boys and other father's boys. John coaches like he plays; with tenacity and hustle.  But he always has one main objective.


 
"He wants the kids to learn how to move fast," says John's sister Margot Jagger. "He wants them to learn how to feel when people are around them."
 
A big influence on John's coaching style is two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash. John and Steve played together as teenagers and have been close friends ever since. When John began the coaching portion of his career he would often ask Steve for advice.
 
"It's not about drills. It's about getting kids to move. Get them to play tag on a gym floor," Steve would tell John.
 
"For John it's all about the kids just grabbing a ball and having fun," says Margot.
 

The toughest game

 
In the summer of 2015 John began to suffer frequent nosebleeds.  As they became worse he decided to go to a clinic and get checked. John had allergies and figured it was just a bad allergy season. But after a series of scans and a biopsy a doctor told John he had cancer. He was diagnosed with Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma, or SNUC for short. It is a very rare and invasive form of cancer. John treated the diagnosis like he treated a basketball game. He hustled and he fought. There were countless chemotherapy sessions and surgeries. Through it all John, with Trixie and his boys at his side, battled. John was blunt with his boys. This cancer was relentless and spreading to other parts of his body.


 
"Trixie and John never hid anything from the kids," says Gerald. "They didn't want life to stop because of what John's going through. The kids are really aware of what's going on. You can see the love amongst them all."
 
John isn't sure how much time he has left, but he knows as much time as possible will be spent with his family and friends.
 
"John is in palliative care right now in hospital and his cancer is very advanced. We know that he is not going to get better. Our focus right now is on helping him manage the pain, which is exceptional," says Margot. "His disease has progressed through his pelvis, through his spine and into his lungs and liver. The pain is extreme. He is just trying to get as much time everyday with his sons, his wife and all of us."

The John Dumont Classic

 
It's a beautiful sunny Saturday in Vancouver but it seems everyone has decided to play inside. The squeak of sneakers on the gym floor at Vancouver College is near deafening.  Today is the first day of the John Dumont Classic. It's a three-on-three tournament where more than two hundred players have registered to play on eight basketball courts all day long. The players range from elementary school age to the men's division, where players 'must be born before high speed internet was invented'.
 

The boys at John Dumonts 3 on 3 tourney! #great event pic.twitter.com/f9zhMkcs1x

— Kevin Hanson (@UBCCoachHanson) August 21, 2016

"It was a healthy, happy day of basketball," says Margot. "It felt good to have St. George's, Vancouver College, and Richmond there. All of these basketball enemies from back in the day enjoying basketball and beer together in John's name."
 
All proceeds from the day will go to the Cruz-Dumont Boys' Trust, a fund created to support education and sport related expenses for John's three sons. 
 
During the day a lifetime memory unfolds for the attendees. Steve Nash has arrived at Vancouver College. He grabs a microphone and begins addressing the crowd. He tells stories of playing with John and Gerald and then says something that resonates throughout the gymnasium.


 
"It's not about the journey," he says. "It's the people you meet along the way."
 
John is too sick to attend the tournament named in his honor, but later that evening Margot tells him of the day's events.
 
"I think for John it's been nice to assure him that although the tournament was created in the name of fun and to raise money, the tournament itself was incredibly competitive and a great basketball opportunity for players of all ages," says Margot. "This really resonates with John, that it was a solid tournament with a really high calibre of play."


 
"There is a magical piece to the weekend," says Gerald. "It was an opportunity for everyone to come together in one place and feel the love in the community. I know most people had John in the back of their minds over the two days."


 
There are flashes of John all over the gym floor of Vancouver College. Every time a player dives to the floor after a loose ball or breezes past the left shoulder of his defender and nails a runner. John Dumont can rest assured. The kids are moving fast. The kids are having fun.