The Triangle

Issue date: 7/3/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Triangle Stock Photo

Nicole Hester is as modest a person as you will meet.

Fortunately for the recently graduated women's basketball standout, her well-documented battle against Hodgkin's Lymphoma and ultimate victory against the potentially fatal disease, speaks for itself - as do the awards that come along with it.

Hester, who has already garnered a plethora of honors for overcoming Hodgkin's Lymphoma - six months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment - and returning to the basketball court to help her team reach the NCAA Tournament in her senior season, received the prestigious 2009 Honda Inspiration Award during a press conference for the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards June 22 in the historic Low Library at Columbia University in New York, N.Y. The Collegiate Women's Sports Awards, now in its 33rd year, "annually recognizes and honors the accomplishments of female athletes in NCAA-member institutions around the country."

"It meant so much to win the Honda Award, let alone being mentioned in the same category, and to go down in history with some of the previous winners," Hester said.

The 23-year-old, who earned a degree in sport management, will now set her sights on a potential career in coaching.

However, before Hester begins the next phase of her life, she might want to reflect on all of her achievements on, and off, the hardwood during the past five years - something she says she has yet to do.

"I have not even sat down and just looked back on my career and especially this past season," Hester said. "I don't think I will really have a chance to until next year, depending on what I am doing in life. I think that after the Honda Award just finishing, I am still on cloud nine from the season, and it won't really be a reality until later, so I'm going to continue to float."

Hester, who started 32 games at forward on a 24-win team that won Drexel's first-ever Colonial Athletic Association title in any sport, was quick to give credit where it is due - to both her immediate and extended Drexel family - for supporting her in her most trying times.

"My family and my Drexel family mean the world to me," Hester said. "Without them I would not have been able to get through all of my speed bumps in life so far. They have always been there for me, and I know they will continue to be there for me, and I love them for it."

The Honda Inspiration Awards joins the nearly endless list of awards Hester has racked up ever since she returned as a junior in 2007-08 after being forced to miss the entire 2006-07 season. Hester has also been presented the John H. Randolph Inspiration from the CAA and the 2008 V Foundation Comeback Award among others.

Past recipients of the Honda Inspiration Award include Patience Knight, track & field, Texas Tech (2008); Jess Kohut, softball, The College of New Jersey (2007); Lindsay Payne, swimming, Williams College (2006) and Brittney Kroon, basketball, Seattle Pacific University (2005).

Hester, no stranger to giving speeches, saved her best motto for last.

"Everyone in life goes through their own trials and tribulations and unfortunately cancer ended up being one of mine," Hester said.

"But it doesn't matter what we go through in life, the only thing that matters is what we do to get through them, and how we use them as stepping stones in life instead of boulders weighing us down."

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