By Scott DeCamp
LocalSportsJournal.com
LocalSportsJournal.com
NORTH MUSKEGON – Tate Pannucci shies from the spotlight. He’s never asked for it.
In fact, for as long as parents Vince and Jennifer Pannucci can remember, the baby of their family is more concerned about others. He possesses a genuineness and maturity about him that belies his age.
“He’s plain out a good kid. He’s been like that since he was little,” Vince Pannucci said. “We call him ‘Safety Patrol Tate’ – that characteristic has never wavered.”
Tate Pannucci, 18, has been forced to grow up much more quickly than others his age. On Dec. 4, 2020, as an eighth-grader at North Muskegon Public Schools, he was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Following nearly 2 ½ years of grueling treatment and chemotherapy, he rang the bell at DeVos Children’s Hospital on April 10, 2023, signaling that he was in remission.
Pannucci is now a freshman at Kalamazoo College, a business major and member of the Hornets’ football team as a 6-foot-3, 240-pound offensive lineman. It’ll be about 2 ½ more years before he’s deemed cancer-free, but the 2025 North Muskegon alumnus is still chasing his dreams regardless of the obstacles thrown his way.
Looking back at the battle of his life, quite literally, Tate Pannucci is already a winner but he chooses to keep his eyes forward.
“I don’t really like to look back on my story – I just like to look at the future. If you focus on the past too much, it can bring you down,” Pannucci said.
What a story it is, however.
‘STORY OF SURVIVORSHIP’
In January 2021, five weeks into his battle with leukemia, family and friends gathered in the Pannuccis’ driveway for a “#TeamTate haircuts” rally. Dozens of people assembled, all wearing face coverings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
First in line to have his head shaved was Ken Byard, who was North Muskegon’s principal at the time and a neighbor of the Pannuccis. Tate Pannucci had the honors of buzzing Byard’s head.
Byard’s son, TJ, and Pannucci were classmates, friends, and teammates on sports teams growing up.
The Byards were among many in the North Muskegon community who showed much love and support for the Pannuccis throughout the cancer journey.
“You need a community around you. You need people. You need support. You need people that will fight for you. You need people that will protect you as much as they can,” TJ Byard said. “And if you have that, you can be unstoppable and get through anything.”
Pannucci is a shining example of that. He returned to the football field as a junior in 2023, but his season was hampered by injury. His triumphant return to the field happened last fall as a senior and he earned a starting spot on the offensive line for the powerhouse Norsemen, who rolled to conference, district, and regional titles en route to a state semifinal appearance in an 11-2 campaign.
When all-conference lineman Jaxon Bean was injured during the memorable run, Pannucci stepped up and the Norsemen did not miss a bit.
“He earned every moment of every opportunity,” North Muskegon football coach Larry Witham said. “I can’t wait to see what young man and father he becomes because I know he’s going to be something special.”
Ken Byard is perhaps Pannucci’s biggest fan, although that list is really long.
“It’s the ultimate story of survivorship and then thriving,” Byard said. “And the goal was that, at some point, we wanted to get Tate back on the football field. We know how much he loved football, and he worked his butt off to do that. And obviously beating cancer is one thing, and then building your body and your mind and your spirit back up to be able to go on to a field is a whole different thing.”
Pannucci played on the golf team at North Muskegon and, while not yet cleared to play football, he joined the tennis squad as a sophomore.
Football was always his passion, however. Running onto Fred Jacks Memorial Field with his buddies, donning the blue and gold uniform and Norse-winged helmet, was Pannucci’s No. 1 motivator during his comeback.
“Everyone knows that he beat it. Everyone knows that he’s such a strong and perseverant dude,” TJ Byard said. “We just know that, like, if he can fight through what he fought through, then we can just get through hard practices every once in a while.”
Pannucci’s bones are brittle from a condition called osteonecrosis, which can be a long-term complication of childhood cancer therapy.
During therapy, Pannucci fractured his elbow and the end of his femur. Around his fractures, the bones do not heal properly. He also has some drug-induced peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy and high-dose steroids.
Kathy Romkema, who has been an athletic trainer at North Muskegon for more than two decades, got to know Pannucci when he was in middle school and his older siblings, Brennan and Natalie, were going through the Norse athletic program.
Romkema said that Tate Pannucci had the most positive outlook and called him simply “inspiring.”
“They become your favorites. They overcome so much and you want to see them succeed,” she said. “From the treatments he had, his knees were affected and he had a severe knee injury from the treatment and he couldn’t finish his junior (football season), which was disappointing to him because he really tried.
“His senior year, he was able to come back but he still battled through some stuff. Some days he couldn’t go and I just said, ‘Take it easy,’ and he would always want to push through. That’s inspiring, you know. He wanted to be out there and we just had to make it work.”
According to Vince Pannucci, his son suffered a bit of a setback at Kalamazoo College. He had to sit out practice after X-rays revealed some spots in the bones of his lower leg, although they are not believed to be cancerous. Recently, Tate Pannucci has been released to resume lifting and some running, his father said. The Pannuccis are waiting for another check-up to make sure all is good.
Pannucci endured extreme shin splints during his senior season at North Muskegon, likely a direct result of the aforementioned spots found in his tibia and fibula, per his dad.
“This kid wants to play through cancer and treatments and the possibility of broken bones. I applaud his will … ,” Vince Pannucci said.
“Obviously, it’s more than just football. But, you know, him having something to work for was the most important thing … and not necessarily worrying about anything else other than trying to meet his goal. And that’s why we didn’t discourage the goal.”
‘LEANING ON OTHERS’
Tate Pannucci certainly hasn’t made this journey alone and, in many ways, it pulled his tight-knit family even closer.
The road has been very difficult for Brennan and Natalie Pannucci to navigate as well, but they’ve always provided their younger brother with great examples in the classroom and athletic arena over the years.
Brennan Pannucci played football at Kalamazoo College, where he earned his degree, and now he’s in law school. Natalie Pannucci is a junior on the Hope College volleyball team.
The remoteness and other challenges brought about by the COVID pandemic made things even tougher on the Pannuccis, but sticking together as a family has helped them pull through.
Brennan and Natalie Pannucci have so much more perspective on life and an immeasurable amount of respect for their brother.
“I mean, life’s tough, but nothing compares to what he’s been through, especially at such a young age,” said Brennan Pannucci, who was still wearing his #TeamTate bracelet into his college years. “I mean, you can’t compare it at all. I think that will make him a lot tougher in life and what are big problems for most people are small for him.”
Said Natalie Pannucci: “I think at the end of the day, life’s a lot bigger than, like, the little things. We saw that with Tate – like, our life was very normal. And then, all of a sudden, we got this news and it really (turned) our whole world upside down. So I think it just made us learn that, just take a deep breath and at the end of the day, it will all be fine and that you can get through it. You just have to lean on others.”
Jennifer Pannucci elaborated on the aforementioned perspective.
“Just what we’ve been through, the ups and downs, I think has brought our family closer together, especially the siblings. I think it made them realize, you know, things can happen. Never thought it would happen to us,” she said. “It made us realize that even on the lowest days, others have it a lot worse than what we had. And we just thank everybody and thank God for, you know, him getting through all of this. I mean, you just never know what life brings.”
Tate Pannucci’s support system extends far beyond his blood relatives.
The North Muskegon community that helped raise him has made a lasting impact. Teammates on his Norse football team “had a brotherhood that no one could break,” Pannucci said. Coaches are father figures.
North Muskegon will always hold a special place in his heart.
“I wouldn’t want to be in any other community growing up. I mean, my plan is to move back here after college,” Pannucci said. “ … I can’t imagine going to a different school.”
Bean and Pannucci go way back. They’ve been friends since a young age, playing sports and riding bikes together, you name it.
Bean recalled his sophomore year when he was in a bad car accident and hospitalized for a couple weeks. After surgery, Bean woke up the next morning and the first two people he saw were Tate and Vince
Pannucci, leaning over his bed, looking at him. The gesture meant the world to Bean, who would have reciprocated it in a heartbeat.
Bean marvels at Pannucci’s perseverance and relentless pursuit of his goals.
“One thing we’ve all learned is that no matter how far you are down or how beat up you are, or how sick you can be, that if you show fight and resilience and grit, that you can always rely on your boys or his teammates and the community,” Bean said.
‘TALE ISN’T DONE’
One of Tate Pannucci’s inspirations along the way has been Dusty Mysen, a family friend who battled and beat pancreatic cancer.
Mysen has looked out for Pannucci and, in turn, Pannucci looks out for others. For example, during his own battle, Pannucci was more concerned about the welfare of Dametrius “Meechie” Walker, a former Muskegon High School standout who died in December 2022 after a two-year battle with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Pannucci and Walker were at DeVos Children’s Hospital at the same time.
While Pannucci’s health status is overall optimistic, he’ll still have check-ups every six months until he’s considered cancer-free.
Those close to Pannucci believe that even though he’s far exceeded any goals that he’s set, he’ll continue to overachieve.
“The tale isn’t done and high school is just a chapter that (is closed) … and Tate is going to continue to be a survivor,” Ken Byard said. “Once you’re a survivor, you’re always a survivor. And I think he’s going to attack the rest of his life that way, the same way he attacked cancer, and continue to go on to do great things.”
Added Witham: “He’s beyond a survivor. Survivor, to me, would entail that somebody that just beat it and is content with that. He’s not content. He’s got aspirations far beyond just being a survivor.”
Who expected Tate Pannucci to make it back to the football field after such a taxing fight against cancer?
Who predicted he’d play football in college and attend such a highly respected institution such as Kalamazoo College?
His parents could not be prouder.
“First and foremost, we’re extremely proud of him for accomplishing what he did considering what his high school (experience) was like. He didn’t have a normal high school (experience) until he was a senior, really,” Vince Pannucci said.
“To be able to graduate from North Muskegon, which isn’t the easiest school to begin with, and with a 3.8 GPA and get into a school like Kalamazoo College – that’s the thing we’re most proud of because most kids would not have put in the effort, and he did it and did it to the best of his ability.”
Tate Pannucci knows no different.
He’s conditioned to keep pushing forward.
“The most important thing to me is never quitting,” he said. “Some kids like to give up sooner or later and, in my opinion, that’s just not me. I don’t like to quit. I mean, I like to win everything I can – we have a competitive family.
“If I can do this, if I can beat (leukemia), then I can beat a lot of other things, too. And use that as fuel, too, when needed.”
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