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Some heroes wear football helmets that are far too big for their 7-year-old heads. Some heroes wear their dad’s high school football pants, held up by prayer and an old belt. Some heroes wear autographed Rex Burkhead jerseys over football pads that once were Halloween costumes.

Some heroes, while wearing all that, run for nearly 70 yards for a touchdown in Nebraska's spring game, usurp all the March Madness highlights to lead off SportsCenter and bring international attention to pediatric brain cancer.

Some heroes never intend to be heroes, but end up the stuff of legends anyway.

You, Jack Hoffman, are a hero.

Not were. Are. Despite your passing on Wednesday morning, using the past tense to describe your legacy feels wrong. Using the past tense to describe the influence you’ve had on reshaping the conversation around pediatric brain cancer feels incorrect. Using the past tense to speak about you as a person? We’re not ready for that yet.

You aren’t that 7-year-old kid anymore. You grew into a strong, smart, kind and caring 19-year-old young man with sights on following your dad’s footsteps in becoming a lawyer. You enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and earned a coveted scholarship before beginning your political science studies. This past semester, UNK said you made the dean’s list.

Despite everything.

Needing to take a total of 8,000 pills a year to keep your seizures in check. Having your dad be diagnosed with brain cancer, too, and dying when you were in high school. Having your scans after years of no tumor progression show tumor progression. More surgery. More chemotherapy. More radiation. More transfusions.

You’re shy, but shying away from the fight? No. Not you. You’re a fighter. There’s no denying that. You’re a fighter through the end.

The outpouring of love you’ve received would make you blush. You don’t like the spotlight. You never did. As a 7-year-old kid, you didn’t like talking to anyone you didn’t know. So, the prospect of having more than 60,000 people watch you at the spring game? You really, really didn’t want to do it. Thankfully, one of your family friends, who ended up being one of your high school teachers, changed your mind.

Because of that run, look at what you did, Jack. You changed the world.

Not only did 61,722 people watch you run for that touchdown in what forever will be the most meaningful moment in Nebraska football history. Millions of people saw it. Millions! Millions of people who weren’t otherwise aware of the facts surrounding pediatric brain cancer and its antiquated treatment protocol.

Because of The Run, you’ve been the face of the Team Jack Foundation, which has raised more than $12 million for pediatric brain cancer research.

Doctors, because of you, are working on identifying new genetic mutations that cause brain tumors. Doctors, because of you, are beginning new clinical trials for treatments of childhood brain tumors. Doctors, because of you, are working to enable medicines to pass the blood-brain barrier. Doctors, because of you, are working to build more childhood brain tumor programs across the country.

You laid the foundation for this, Jack. Because you were brave. Because you faced your fears. Because you heeded your father’s advice and ran for the fence.

That’s what heroes do.

In the face of adversity, heroes fight. In the darkness, heroes inspire. Against all odds, heroes unite. In times of trouble, heroes provide hope. When things look bleak, heroes provide courage.

You did that, Jack. You will continue to do that for the rest of time, Jack.

When you were a child, you had no idea the impact you would make on others. But when you were 17, you had kind of figured it out.

“Do you know what an inspiration you are to people?� I asked you then.

You smiled. You blushed a little.

As you shyly responded, “Yeah,� your mom smiled, too.

“He still does not like being the center of attention,� Bri said then with a laugh. “But if it’s something that’s going to help other kids, he’s all in.�

Well, Jack, you were the center of attention today. And, spoiler alert, you’ll be the center of attention on Saturday at your service, too. And next month at the Team Jack Gala, the spotlight will most certainly be on you once again.

You, the kid who helped put Atkinson on the map, deserve the spotlight. You deserve every single compliment that’s sent your way.

All those people who’ve said you’re an inspiration and a hero? They’re right. 

You’re a special kid, Jack. We’re all forever grateful for you and the impact you’ve been able to make.

The world is a better place for having had you in it.

We are all Team Jack. Forever and always.