Three years after life-saving surgery, Phillipsburg High School's "Scarred Ninja" is an "American Ninja Warrior" contestant. Greg Smith is the Scarred Ninja. "I try to embrace it, you know?" the first-year Phillipsburg High School algebra teacher said during a walk around campus after class. "I have this giant scar on my chest and it's kind of a testament of who...
Three years after life-saving surgery, Phillipsburg High School's "Scarred Ninja" is an "American Ninja Warrior" contestant.
Greg Smith is the Scarred Ninja.
"I try to embrace it, you know?" the first-year Phillipsburg High School algebra teacher said during a walk around campus after class.
"I have this giant scar on my chest and it's kind of a testament of who I am. If I didn't have it, I probably wouldn't be here because that surgery saved my life."
Three years ago, Smith went under the knife to remove cancerous lymph nodes, the result of Stage 2 testicular cancer discovered the year prior.
The four-hour operation required an incision from his chest to his pelvis, and 70 staples to close it. It was his second surgery and followed four cycles of chemotherapy that forced him to take a year off from college.
But Smith emerged from the treatment cancer-free.
His recovery was remarkable, and complete. He returned that fall to the Rider University track and field team and since graduating has set his sights on a new physical challenge.
Last month, Smith competed in the Philadelphia qualifier for NBC's "American Ninja Warrior." The episode is to air June 27.
It is evidence, his family says, of the will that helped him survive.
"He's always been an athlete and that's what got him through the cancer. He said: It's a competition and I'm going to win," said Greg's mother Carol Smith, of Alexandria Township. "That's how every day went. ... It's that competitive spirit in him that got him through it."
A new challenge
"American Ninja Warrior," now in its eighth season, has individual competitors tackle a brutal and demanding obstacle course. Top finishers advance to a local finals round, and then to the national finals in Las Vegas where a $1 million grand prize awaits.
Greg was a multi-sport athlete at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Hunterdon County, where he is now an assistant track coach. After his return to Rider following his cancer treatment, he was hitting personal bests in the long jump.
Ninja training, he said, was just a new challenge.
His roommate from Rider convinced him to try out for the show, Greg said, and the two friends began training at Movement Lab in Burlington County, among other facilities. The gym's website says it is one of the world's largest parkour and ninja training facilities and home to more "Ninja Warrior" finalists than any other in the country.
Smith said his large frame -- 6 feet 3 inches tall and about 200 pounds -- was not suited to many of the obstacles at first, many of which require hanging from various handholds. He lost some 15 to 20 pounds and had to improve his upper body and grip strength just to hold on.
"It was challenging, it was new. It wasn't something that I had ever done before," he said. "That's the thing I liked about it, the fact that it was this brand new challenge ... Something that was uncharted territory, basically, for me."
The Scarred Ninja name -- which also is Greg's Instagram handle -- was devised as a personal brand, a way to stand out in the televised competition while embracing his identity.
"He is the Scarred Ninja and the scar is amazing," Carol said, admitting to initial reservations about her son's choice of activity. "It took that much to fix the problem. He survived though that."
Smith isn't allowed to say if he will be competing in the Las Vegas finals, but said he will be there cheering on his peers. Coincidentally, an Easton resident, Timothy Bream, is also among the competitors.
The community is close knit and supportive, Smith said, and competitions will be an ongoing project for him as part of the National Ninja League -- a nonprofit group of training facilities.
"It's challenging. That's the cool thing about it," he said. "You never want to go into a sport and do something, you know, that's just easy. These things, they make you work."
Easton, P'burg ninjas find camaraderie
Life lessons
Smith has no reservations talking about his experiences, either with cancer or competition. Of course, many of the questions from his students -- both at Phillipsburg and Del Val -- deal with the TV show.
"They just really liked the fact that they knew someone who was going to have this opportunity to be on television," Smith said. However, he added, that has forged some special relationships with the youths.
"They felt comfortable learning from me," he said. "They wanted to see me do well, just like I want to see them do well."
Smith's parents said their son's influence will hopefully spread beyond the schools and TV audiences. That somewhere, someone else dealing with illness -- perhaps a child -- will see how Greg has recovered from his own ordeal.
"Deep down inside, I knew I was going to be able to come back," Greg said of his cancer fight. "I wasn't going to let it beat me. ... Nothing is really going to hold me down. I really want to always go out there and do my best. But I really can't do that without my friends and my family."
Greg's father, Rick, said the true lesson to beating cancer is early detection and quickly seeking medical advice.
"It's not so much the athletics and physicality," Rick said. "It really boils down to understanding your body, knowing your body and not being afraid to say something. ... It very well saved his life."
Still, Greg's parents said there was a sense of pride as they watched their son, just a short time removed from his internal battle, tackle the physical obstacles before him.
"You're a proud parent watching and knowing where he came from," Rick said. "In our minds, we beat this.
"Cancer is behind us."
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and find him on Facebook.