“Gave Me Life”: Cancer Survivor Holly Rowe Returns Nick Saban & Wife Terry’s Kindness With Heartfelt ESPN Tribute

The Bama Theater in Tuscaloosa hosted the premiere of ESPN’s six-part series Saban on Thursday night. ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe was among those at the premiere. Her relationship with Nick and Terry Saban go well beyond their time in college football, as she outlined in her reaction to the documentary.

“SABAN premiere in Tuscaloosa was fantastic,” Holly Rowe wrote on her Instagram while sharing a video of the premiere. A football family reunion. The show clips we saw were absolutely PHENOMENAL.”

“Having lived a lot of this history on the sidelines, it gave me LIFE to see it so brilliantly captured and reimagined. If you love college football… you will be HOOKED! And if you want to see a powerhouse woman, Miss Terry stole the show!”

Rowe spent years covering SEC football, often catching Saban for interviews after games or following him off the field as he headed toward the locker room. But their relationship went beyond the usual reporter-coach routine.

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When Rowe faced the hardest period of her life, Saban and his wife, Miss Terry, became a source of support. Rowe learned she had Stage IV metastatic melanoma in 2016 and faced years of surgery and cancer treatment.

Rowe underwent several operations to remove the tumors, followed by high-dose alpha interferon, an immunotherapy treatment with severe side effects. She later recalled how badly the treatment affected her.

“I was deathly ill. I couldn’t eat. I could barely walk. I would lie in bed all day…,” Rowe recalled.

During that time, Saban made a point of checking in on her. He kept those conversations private, but his messages and words of support meant a great deal to Rowe as she dealt with the illness.

“He would check on me during those cancer years. I mean, nobody would think that of Coach Saban, and that meant a lot to me,” Rowe said during an interview with AL.com.

Even during treatment, Rowe had no intention of giving up her job. Just weeks after major surgery, she was back at work covering the NCAA basketball championships, still carrying a drain tube and collection bag from the operation.

The treatment often left Rowe so sick that she spent the day in bed. Still, she would get up, get dressed, and head out to cover her assigned games. Even while going through immunotherapy, she never missed an ESPN assignment because of her cancer treatment.

At one point during her treatment, Rowe received a big box of apples from Nick Saban and Miss Terry. The package came with a short note signed by both of them: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away – Miss Terry and Nick Saban.”

Rowe also recalled a voicemail Saban left her while attending the SEC coaches meetings in Destin, Florida. He had heard her name come up during the meetings and wanted to check in.

“I’m just here, I’m at Destin. I’m at the coaches’ meetings, and your name came up, and I’m just thinking about you,” he told her. Rowe was so deeply moved by the gesture that she saved the voicemail forever. Now, Rowe is supporting Saban by promoting his documentary.

Several former Alabama players, including Barrett Jones, Trent Richardson, and Ryan Kelly, attended the screening to show their support for Saban. Jalen Hurts, now the Philadelphia Eagles’ QB, was unable to make it but sent a large arrangement of white flowers to the Saban home.

His note thanked Saban for giving him the chance to be part of a period that left its mark on college football. At the premiere, Saban said making the series gave him a chance to look back on the people he worked with during his time at Alabama.

He said he had always wanted his players to succeed beyond football, which made seeing so many of them at the screening especially meaningful. “It was always our goal to help players be more successful in life, so it means a lot to me that they would come here for this,” he said.

For Rowe, the premiere meant more than looking back at Alabama’s wins and championships. It gave her a chance to recognize Nick and Terry Saban for the support they showed her when she was facing cancer.

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