Greenville News - Scott Keepfer
Jordan Robinson was, his brother says, a person who loved to do "guy stuff."

That's why he was fairly chomping at the bit last summer as thoughts of an impending hunting trip to Alaska swirled through his head.

"He was totally stoked," said Jeff Robinson, of Taylors. "For a guy 20 years old to be told that he was going to have the opportunity to go to Alaska and hunt for grizzly (bear) - there aren't many things to top that."

Jordan never got to go.

He passed away last Aug. 19 - five days shy of his 21st birthday - leaving behind a close-knit family, including three brothers, a bevy of friends from Louisiana to Florida and many places between, and plenty of sweet memories.

"Jordan was obedient and hard-working," said mother Jennifer of the third of her four boys. "He was more quiet and laid-back, but he liked to have fun, too."

He also was a good basketball player. Jordan was a standout at Covenant Christian School in Palm Bay, Fla., and later earned a roster spot on the team at North Greenville University after moving to the Upstate in 2006.

His memory remains alive and well at North Greenville and particularly at Covenant, where before every game coach Jim Grimes drapes Jordan's No. 20 jersey over a chair at courtside and his players have the number inscribed on their own jerseys. In fact, Jordan's jersey will be retired during a special Senior Night ceremony on Feb. 5, which his family plans to attend.

Jordan battled epithelial sarcoma - a rare cancer of soft tissues - for more than two years, undergoing chemotherapy treatments and surgeries and continuing to attend classes at North Greenville, first with the aid of a wheelchair, then crutches, then merely a slight limp. But the cancer returned, stemming from his ankle and spreading relentlessly, sapping Jordan's 172-pound body of strength and rendering him frail in his final days.

"He said, 'Mom, I'm not going to get to go on that (hunting) trip," Jennifer said.

Then he told her, "If the Lord's not going to choose to heal me, I want to go home and be with Jesus."

And so he did, leaving Brad Jones of the Outdoor Dream Foundation saddened yet inspired.

"You just have to go on and try to help as many people as you can," Jones said.

The Outdoor Dream Foundation, an Upstate group that provides hunting and fishing and other outdoor adventures for young people who are battling life-threatening illnesses, had provided Jordan with a new Browning rifle and booked his hunt. Jones quickly filled Jordan's slot with another hunter, 17-year-old Quentin Currence of Clover.

Currence, accompanied by his grandfather, spent a week in the Alaska wilds, bagging a 360-pound black bear in the process. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff, Jordan's oldest brother, met Currence for the first time. He listened as Currence shared stories of the hunt, then took time to share a few stories of his own about Jordan - like the time he took Jordan out for some shotgun fun.

"I had five boxes of shells and told him he could shoot some of them," Jeff said. "I came back a little while later and he'd shot all of them."

Jeff remembered Jordan as one who loved all sports, and anything outdoors. Which may explain why Jeff, after enjoying a morning of duck hunting with Outdoor Dream youngsters, seemed smitten by it all.

"I think the neatest thing about it is that people are helping each other, and that's the mark of a true Christ follower," Jeff said. "The test of one's character is how you treat people."