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Tennessee teen Trey Erwin loses fight with cancer

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Sad news coming out of Tennessee today as Trey Erwin lost his battle with cancer.

Erwin was a 15 year old football player and native of Collierville. Back in March, he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and given six months to live.

His battle was an inspiration for many, and his story became one followed by many people in the mid-South, athletes included. Tennessee big man Jarnell Stokes wore No. 13 during his stint playing with Team USA’s U-18 team. Stokes tweeted that “Trey inspired me to always trust in God no matter how bad life’s going. This kid dream was to become a Vol” on Thursday afternoon.

DJ Stephens of Memphis also became close with Erwin. Stephens tweeted “Always will be remembered. Never will be forgotten. I love you my guy @treyerwin13 ‪#RIP‬". Both players posted pictures that they took with Trey in recent months once they found out he had passed away:

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No matter the situation, losing a teenager to cancer is an utter tragedy. This does, however, give us a chance to see the true character of Stokes and Stephens -- and everyone else that took time out of their day to help cheer up a sick kid. We watch these guys on TV, we cheer for them when they don a uniform, we marvel at them as they walk across campus, but we rarely get a chance to see what kind of people our sports idols truly are.

It may have been brief, but Erwin was able to get to know a couple of his idols. That is a commendable thing for Stokes and Stephens to do.

Thoughts and prayers go out to Trey’s family. You can read more about Trey’s battle here.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.