Ron Rivera keeps seeing messages from Charlotte, as he pounded his way through cancer treatments

[Sir Purr]

Rivera said a large percentage of those messages were from friends or former co-workers from Charlotte, which isn't surprising considering the impact he made here.


And many of those messages carried a familiar theme.


For nine years, Rivera would walk to the practice field past the words "Keep Pounding," the words that became a franchise mantra as former linebacker and coach Sam Mills went through his own fight with cancer. It was stitched inside the jerseys, printed on shirts, paints on the walls. It was hard to miss. And it wasn't.


"Yep, it's funny because some of the former players I had, they would use that, and that was cool," Rivera said. "Some of them would use the sayings I used with them, about the attitude, preparation, and effort, and someone would tell me, 'Coach, it starts with your attitude today, Keep Pounding.'


"Sammy Mills (III, the son of Sam Mills), who's my D-line coach here, would tell me, 'Coach, Keep Pounding.' So it did resonate, it really did. I think it's a hell of a saying, I really do. I think it's a great mantra."


Clearly, the words sunk in like so many of Rivera's did.


Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson clearly remembered, as he said this week that Rivera's constant reminders about the APE (Attitude, Preparation, Effort) still ring in his ears to this day.


"My initial reaction was he's a fighter, he's one of the strongest men I knew," Jackson said about hearing of Rivera's diagnosis in August. "I didn't have any doubt in my mind he was going to beat it and he was going to be OK."