USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins and father honored at annual Tampa Bay Sneaker Soiree

, the University of South Florida's forward-thinking CEO of Athletics, found himself in an unfamiliar position last Thursday night.

Higgins was surprised - stunned, even.

Prior to the 14th annual Sneaker Soiree at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - the celebration of excellence in Tampa Bay sports and an event Higgins invented during his 21-year tenure as executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission - he was told about a formal recognition of some sort. Thanks for the memories, perhaps?

It was a bit more than that.

Higgins and his father Jack were presented the Freddie Solomon Moral Courage Award for their successful and courageous battles against cancer in 2024 and 2025, prior to Rob's CEO appointment at USF.

After watching an emotionally charged video about the health scare, produced by USF's and Brandon Kowalak, Higgins arrived at the podium.

"I've never been up on this stage and been speechless,'' Higgins said. "This is really weird to be up here without words.''

After a few remarks and a standing ovation, Higgins was promptly called back to the stage. Lanness Robinson, the TBSC executive director who succeeded Higgins, said he had a "surprise.''

Higgins, always on top of everything, had no idea.

Robinson announced that the event's popular series of Community Hero Awards, featuring inspirational stories from area athletes, would be renamed as the Community Hero Award.

"The Sneaker Soiree has been Rob's baby,'' Robinson said. "He took the opportunity to unite all of the Tampa sports community. Every single year, it got bigger and better.

"However, if you talk to Rob, the thing he most appreciated about this event were the Community Hero Awards. Telling those stories, creating awareness, that's where he really got the joy.''

Robinson then called back to the stage each winner of Thursday night's Community Hero Awards. Their trophies already had been switched out to read Community Hero Award.

The triumphant story of Higgins and his father had been told before. But many in the crowd - including newly hired USF head coaches Kristy Curry, Brian Hartline and Chris Mack - weren't familiar with all of the circumstances.

Either way, this video - entitled "Tested By Cancer, Defined By Courage'' and narrated by ESPN's Holly Rowe - had impact.

Jack Higgins had first been diagnosed with cancer, prompting Rob, admittedly lax on his medical matters, to get a checkup. What was supposed to be a routine colonoscopy turned into unthinkable news.

"I remember sitting there with Rob in recovery as he was coming out of sedation and it was eerily quiet,'' said Casey Higgins, Rob's wife, during the video interview. "The doctor walks in and says, 'Oh, I see that Rob is out of it. I need to come back in 30 minutes because I want to talk to him and he won't remember what I have to say.'

"They removed a four-centimeter tumor and they don't even need to wait for pathology. They know it's cancer. That was just so hard. I'm thinking, 'Wait, did he just say Rob has cancer?' Just the look on Rob's face, it's etched in my memory forever. I will never forget.''

Suddenly, faced the same grim battle as his father was undergoing.

"It was just so tough to watch,'' Casey Higgins said. "A lot of times, Jack would be coming out of radiation and Rob would be going in. There were times when Rob would get there early, and then Jack would stay late, just so they could cross paths to check on each other.

"There are so many times when you hear about father-son bonding. You think about going on vacations and trips and making memories together. Instead, their father-son bonding was them fighting for their lives.''

Eventually, Jack Higgins was declared cancer-free. So was , who underwent a combined 56 chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

"I think we're right close to two years of clean scans, eating healthy, exercising and trying to do the right things,'' Jack Higgins said. "Hopefully we'll be with you for a long time.''

spent a dozen years cultivating and presenting the area's most inspirational stories for the Community Hero Awards.

Thursday night, that story was about he and his father.

"It's just so incredible the way Team Tampa Bay rallied around us,'' said. "Look, cancer is not contagious. But the love, the hope and the courage of Team Tampa Bay throughout our battle certainly was (contagious). It got us through it.

"It's unlike any other community in the entire country. We cannot be more proud to be members of Team Tampa Bay. Go Bulls!''

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