Health Issues & Retirement
In 1989, Stewart was diagnosed with colon cancer, missing the final 14 games of the 1989-90 season. He underwent invasive surgery and chemotherapy and was able to return to coaching the following season. Stewart's assistant, Rich Daly, took over as interim coach for the rest of the season, but Missouri credits the entire season to Stewart.
The 1990s were a time of both highs and lows for Mizzou basketball, with the highlight being 1994 when the Tigers went a perfect 14-0 in conference play. For that special season, Norm Stewart was named College Coach Of The Year by the Associated Press and five other leading organizations. Following another winning 1998-99 season, the Stewart Era came to an end as he announced his retirement on April 1, 1999. At his retirement, he'd had a hand in over 60 percent of Missouri's wins.
Although retired from coaching, Stormin' Norman continues to storm through life with a busy itinerary of meetings, speaking engagements, travel, and color commentary on Mizzou basketball broadcasts. Stewart is also a member of the council of Coaches Vs. Cancer, a program he founded following his own cancer battle. After collapsing at a Dallas, Texas restaurant in May 2007, Stewart had a pacemaker installed. In late July 2008 Stewart underwent successful open-heart surgery, an aortic valve replacement, at a Columbia, Missouri hospital.
Read more about this topic: Norm Stewart
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“He who comes into Assemblies only to gratifie his Curiosity, and not to make a Figure, enjoys the Pleasures of Retirement in a[n] ...exquisite Degree.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)