A year after his death, Ron Rivera’s brother remains an inspiration

11:43 PM ET

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera wasn’t thinking about a trip to the Super Bowl or being named the NFL Coach of the Year when he arrived at training camp last season.

He was thinking about his brother.

Mickey Rivera died a year ago today after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Rivera got the news of his brother’s death the day before he was scheduled to be at Wofford College for the start of training camp. He came and worked the first practice, and then missed the next two to attend the funeral in Reno, Nevada.

When giving the eulogy for a person Rivera described on Twitter as one of his “1st and best teammates,” he talked about how selfless his brother was.

He talked about how Mickey always was worried about others more than himself. He talked about how Mickey risked everything by moving from California to Reno to purchase a Little Caesar’s franchise.

Rivera then used Mickey as an example to his players, who exuded …

continue reading in source espn.go.com