Southern Jaguars push on without Cador

Southern University Jaguars head baseball coach Roger Cador.

When Southern pitcher Sherrard Brooks left his hotel room Sunday morning and boarded the team bus, Roger Cador wasn’t waiting. That was the first clue. Something wasn’t right. Maybe the Jaguars’ legendary coach was out recruiting somewhere in Houston — even on a Sunday morning, just hours before their series finale against Texas Southern. That seemed strange, but Brooks figured he couldn’t put it past Cador. Worse yet, maybe Cador had been disgusted by Southern’s play the day before. In losing twice Saturday, the Jaguars suffered a double-header sweep to a Southwestern Athletic Conference foe for only the second time in six years.

Brooks decided that didn’t make any sense, either. Minutes before the first pitch of any game, in the team huddle, Cador always has a story to tell. He usually saves the most stirring of them for when the chips are down. “It would’ve been a good day to hear one of those stories,” Brooks said later. “He would have had a good one for us.” It wasn’t until the team arrived at MacGregor Park that assistant coach Fernando Puebla gave players the complete picture: Cador, who has worn a pacemaker for more than 20 years, was having health problems. The 58-year-old coach returned home Sunday to visit his cardiologist after experiencing an irregular heartbeat Saturday night and again Sunday morning in Houston.

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