To those who knew and loved him, John Howland had two sides: on the football field and off.

Anyone who knew Howland can recall how he'd let loose on the game field, and simultaneously fight down pain -- almost any kind of pain -- sometimes for the sake of a game and sometimes for others' benefit.

That dual capacity for reckless abandon and polite restraint seemed to be Howland's dominant trait. Howland died early Wednesday morning, after a year-long fight with a rare form of cancer: sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma.

While he was diagnosed last January during his freshman year at Cayuga Community College, Howland is more readily identified with Union Springs High School, where he played as a linebacker and offensive guard on the football team, and from where he graduated in 2004.

"The whole school community is very saddened by his death," said Linda Rice, the superintendent for Union Springs schools. "He was a wonderful young man. The community came together for him and he will be truly missed."

Last month, Howland's family, friends and former schoolmates gathered for a fundraising benefit to offset the Howland family's medical costs, travel and living expenses during treatment. At one point, Howland had undergone treatments at Burzynski Research Clinic in Houston, Texas for his illness.

"He didn't want anybody else to feel his burden," said Fred Clark, a family friend whose son played football with Howland at Union Springs. "He could be in a ton of pain, and somebody would come to visit and he'd sit up and think he'd owed them his attention."

To Clark, Howland had always come across as affable and self-possessed. So when his son, after seeing Howland play ball, told him one day, "''I don't want to get hit by Johnny Howland,' I thought that kid? He's the nicest kid in the world. He was able to adjust his personality from football to being a regular person," Clark said.

Jay Noonan, Union Spring High School's football coach, saw in Howland both the ultimate player and ultimate friend. Noonan recalled a game during which Howland became, from a coach's point of view, too injured to continue playing. He said he literally had to pull him off the field, "that's how much he wanted to play."

"If I had 20 John Howland's we'd have the state championship," he said.

Noonan vowed to retire Howland's jersey number, 51, at least for the duration of his tenure.

Howland's family was with him when he died at home. He'd barely turned 21.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.