There is one member of the UAB football program who won’t be donned in green or gold Saturday.

A 21-year-old junior kinesiology major on the UAB football equipment staff, James Howell will be attending to his duties while wearing a white polo to honor his own cancer charity and society.

Unbeknownst to most, the third-year equipment manager and Birmingham native is a cancer survivor himself and a former patient of Children’s Harbor.

“I know the people that are involved with all this and it feels weird coming from a person who was a patient and now someone who is a part of it in this way,” Howell said. “It’s very humbling.”

In a serendipitous way, Howell and his relationship with UAB come to fruition as the Blazers host Middle Tennessee State for their annual Children’s Harbor homecoming game, Saturday, Oct. 8, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

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Since returning to the field in 2017, UAB has honored current and former patients of Children’s Harbor by wearing the names of patients in place of player names on the back of the Blazers’ grey and lime alternate uniforms.

For Howell, more than most, the annual game honoring patients of childhood diseases hits close to home after battling brain cancer in his youth. He was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma — a tumor located on the brain stem — at the age of four and underwent chemotherapy for the next two years until the cancer went into complete remission.

“Obviously, it does come full circle,” UAB equipment director Ryne Nicholson said. “James is a kid that’s overcome so much in his life but you would never know it as an outsider looking in or speaking with James and seeing him on a day-to-day basis. You would never know that. He’s overcoming what he’s overcome because of perseverance and his daily drive.”

“It’s cool to see that we honor him and honor what he’s been through,” he added. “He takes a lot of pride in this game. We play for this every year. It’s a great tradition, one of the best in college football, if not the best, and we’re able to play for James every day. He’s a great kid and you would never know what James has ever overcome without him telling you anything.”

Howell was given the all-clear on his cancer diagnosis following chemotherapy but routine appointments and checkups were still required to confirm his cancer was still in remission. The side effects of the chemotherapy were especially hard on Howell but he discovered his love of sport through hours spent in a hospital bed.

“Going through full body chemo and radiation, it was exhausting,” he said. “It was pretty much every side effect you could have and one of those being I couldn’t quite play contact sports and I couldn’t produce certain things that I needed to play contact. I’ve been a football fan since I was probably eight and remember watching football in the hospital, wanting to be a part of a team and be on the sideline.”

Although he was never able to pull on a helmet ad strap on shoulder pads for a game, Howell created his own path to becoming a member of a team.

“I’ve been unable to play contact sports, I don’t have the ability to do that, so I became a manager in middle school and I’ve been doing that ever since,” Howell said. “Actually, that’s how I landed here.”

When Howell became a freshman at Vestavia Hills High School, legendary Rebels football coach and all-time AHSAA wins leader Buddy Anderson (346) brought him on board to the equipment staff for the varsity. Impressed with Howell’s work ethic and overall performance, Anderson gave a call to his good friend and then UAB head coach Bill Clark to inquire about any open positions on the equipment staff for a soon-to-be graduate.

“He’s good friends with Coach (Bill) Clark and recommended me for this,” Howell said. “Everything’s worked out and it’s my third year doing this here at UAB.”

A childhood cancer diagnosis was not enough to dissuade Howell from setting goals early in his life. Accomplishing them was a feat all of its own and the white polo-clad equipment manager is ever grateful for the opportunities and takes pride in being part of a program that honors individuals who are fighting similar battles to what he experienced himself.

“It’s definitely motivated me to where I’m at right now,” Howell said. “It’s always going to be part of my life but since then I haven’t had any more problems. It’s not the biggest excuse ever in my life, but it’s also something that created my life. A lot of the things that go on in my life are based on that and it’s humbling being where I’m at right now because of how far I’ve gotten.”