“Stuart Scott is dead.” A tearful Rich Eisen on NFL Network delivered those words on Sunday, January 4. News broke that morning that Stuart Scott had died from cancer, the third time that Scott battled the disease. Scott left an everlasting impact on the way that sports were broadcast, and he will be severely missed by all.

Scott got his start on ESPN on a segment called “Sports blast.” Scott was a huge hit, with his new “Swaggy” style, and his catchy phrases. Scott was an icon in the broadcasting world. Multiple times, Stuart was told of his phrases being “too hard to understand” by many of the viewers, and that he needed to change his ways. And multiple times, Scott refused to change his ways. Scott battled cancer three times, each time he refused to give up the battle, fighting until the end. In 2008, when Scott was first diagnosed, he sat down with his longtime friend Scoop Jackson, talking about when he was first diagnosed. Here’s an excerpt from the story, published on the ESPN website: “I knew I heard the doctor correctly. I didn’t think he said something else, I didn’t think for a second, ‘Well maybe he didn’t say it.’ No, I knew I heard him! But I still couldn’t comprehend … in my mind … in my soul … he just said, ‘cancer.’ But he’s not talking about me. …”

That was the first initial thought: “He’s not talking about me!” And after about two seconds, the reality hit. Harder than the pain. “He is talking about me.”

The next thought was a different one. Here was a young man of 42 years who worked his way to a position that no other of his kind and of his generation had reached. The next thought was not a flashback of everything achieved, of “Monday Night Football” and “SportsCenters.” It wasn’t even about his baby girls or the love he still held for his ex-wife. No, it was much less beautiful.

“The next thought I had was, ‘I’m going to die.'”

What intercepted his thoughts of death were kids. His two daughters. His life.

“I said to the doctors after they told me all of this: ‘Look — I need to see my kids. I’ve got to see them.’ At that point I just had to see them. And anybody that has kids understands this. It’s that feeling of whenever anything is going bad in my life, I need to see my children. I need to smell them, I need to touch them, I need to hug them. They become like water. You need water to survive. And to me, for me, I believe that there are moments in your life where you need your kids to survive. And at that point, before I had another surgery, I had to, I had to, see my kids. I had to see my kids to survive.”

His two daughters, taelor, and Sydni were his prize possessions, loving them more than anything. When Scott attended the 2014 ESPN Espy’s awards, Scott stood up and walked up the stairs, to accept the 2014 Jimmy V perseverance award, many thought he wouldn’t say much. However, Stuart delivered one of the most powerful speeches given at the Espy’s, highlighting the fight against cancer. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live it,” Said Stuart. Stuart then talked of his daughters, before asking his youngest, Sydni to go up onto the stage and to give him a hug.

Thinking of Stuart’s words, it is clear that even though cancer ended his life, he surely defeated it. His confidence and personality never waivered, and he will forever be remembered for the man that he was. So tonight, everyone flip their pillow over to the cool side, and let out a “Boo-yaa” before heading to bed. And in the words of Rich Eisen, “wherever you are Stuart, Godspeed, rest in peace.”