Forgotten what it was like to be healthy and confident and happy with himself.
Forgotten what it was like to be 16 years old and play guitar in a rock band and football for the Midwest City Bombers. What it was like to have the world by the tail. What it was like to weigh 175 pounds.
But all those feelings returned on "The Biggest Loser,” NBC’s weight-loss reality show.
"I feel like I used to when I was a champion,” Cahill said.
Cahill was a backup junior lineman on Dick Evans’ 1985 state title team, quarterbacked by Mike Gundy. Over the next quarter century, Cahill gained weight. And gained weight. And gained weight.
Cahill, who now lives in Broken Arrow, checked in at 427 pounds on The Biggest Loser. He’s one of eight contestants remaining and has lost 97 pounds in eight weeks.
"It’s been a long time since I felt the confidence of a champion,” Cahill said. Four or five weeks into his stay on The Biggest Loser campus in California, "I got that fire back.”
The show is taped, so Cahill is sworn to secrecy on how he fares. But the December finale is live, with all contestants returning for a weigh-in.
The Biggest Loser, which airs on Tuesday nights, is inspirational television. I recommend it. Cahill calls it a blessing.
"It’s brought back a fire I haven’t had in years,” he said.
Cahill actually was overweight as a kid at Jarman Junior High, but he lost 75 pounds before his junior year.
Evans would joke with him about putting the weight back on, that the Bombers needed hefty linemen, and indeed Evans later told Cahill that Midwest City would have won state in 1986, too, had Cahill stayed beefy.
"I know, Coach, but I had to do it,” Cahill told Evans. "I didn’t have a girlfriend.”
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