Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
Just a couple of days ago, in this same countdown space, we looked at a linebacker from the early days of the Panthers who made an impact in a short amount of time. Today’s subject has a similar profile, but his story is more heart touching and maybe memorable for those who were fans back in the early 2000s.
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Mark Fields was a first round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1995. He played there for six years for departing for a single mercenary year with the Rams, where he was a key member of the team that lost to the Patriots at the start of their dynasty. He then made his way to Carolina, where he quickly made an impact both on and off the field.
In 2002, he established himself as part of an elite linebacking group in Carolina. He led the team with 103 tackles while adding 7.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss. But it was the following season, one in which he didn’t play a snap, that cemented Fields’ place in Panthers lore. During training camp, Fields was hospitalized when a cut on his thumb became infected and struggled to heal. During treatment, doctors discovered that Fields was suffering from Hodgkins disease. He was ruled out for the entire 2003 season. The diagnosis came within the same month that former Panthers linebacker and then linebackers coach Sam Mills was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. The duo became the embodiment of Mills’ “Keep Pounding” phrase, which has stuck as the organization’s hallmark mantra. That 2003 team rode that mantra all the way to the Super Bowl against all odds, but they came up short to those dastardly Patriots again.
Fields returned to the football field the following year and picked up right where he left off. While the Panthers as a team weren’t able to replicate the success of the magical season prior, Fields was able to earn himself Pro Bowl honors in his return to football. Unfortunately, that would prove to be Fields’ last season, as his lymphoma returned, and he elected to call it quits on football to focus on his health.
While Fields only played two seasons in Carolina, he cemented his legacy here with his off field contributions to the 2003 Super Bowl team sandwiched two seasons of elite play on the field.
