He first played on professional football teams, the San Diego Chargers, the Houston Oilers, and the Kansas City Chiefs, and then found fame and fortune in professional wrestling, a sport that landed him in the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame.

He is Ernie “Big Cat” Ladd. And on Saturday night, he died of cancer at the age of 68.

Ladd’s battle with cancer began in 2004. It started in his colon and later spread to his stomach and bones.

“The doctor told me I had three-to-six months to live,” Ladd said in 2005. “I told him Dr. Jesus has the verdict on me.”

It seems the great doctor gave Ladd, the 15th player taken in the 1961 AFL draft, more than a few months, proof that numbers are not everything in the game of cancer.

Ladd, almost 6-foot-10 and more than 300 pounds, started making appearances at wrestling events during his football career. He was first a special events referee and then became a wrestler. It was both a knee injury and the lure of the lucrative wrestling industry that ended Ladd’s football career.

“In what other sport can you pick up a $14 pair of boots, $0.59 socks, spend maybe a total of $50, and convert it into $100,000 a year, if you are sharp and train?” Ladd once said. “My intention was to go back to football, but pro wrestling was so good to me.”

Attorney General and Tsawwassen resident Wally Oppal has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but he says the treatment shouldn’t keep him away from his work for long.

Oppal said he is scheduled to have surgery March 20, and after the initial shock of the diagnosis he is confident about his recovery.

“I play basketball, I lift weights, I don’t smoke, I’m in fairly good health I thought, until they found this lump in a routine checkup,” Oppal said Thursday. “It’s very disconcerting. It’s a shock when you’re told you have cancer, but after you gather your emotional thoughts, you have to get your life together.”

Returning to the legislature after making an announcement in Vancouver about his condition, Oppal said he isn’t feeling any fatigue and doesn’t expect to be off work for long.

“I expect I’ll be a few days away, but I’m going to be working out of my Vancouver office,” the former B.C. Court of Appeal judge said. “I’m going to get a condo very close to it so they can bring me work.”

Oppal was joined at his Vancouver announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell and Tourism Minister Stan Hagen, who had a full recovery after surgery for prostate cancer. He urged older men to overcome their embarrassment and see their doctor for a checkup that includes a digital rectal examination.