For four decades, Ron Galbreath has talked with his basketball teams about dealing with adversity.

Always the coach, now he’s actually demonstrating it.

Felled by a near-fatal stroke March 14, the Lawrence County basketball legend is on the road to recovery.

Just six weeks ago, such an outcome was unlikely.

Ron, 67, was unable to speak or move muscles on the right side of his body. He’d become ill and then disoriented while at his Patterson Heights home and remained in that condition for several days after being taken to the Medical Center of Beaver.

The ordeal was the sternest test of an unwavering faith that Ron has displayed throughout his life.

“I never dreamed that I would be vulnerable to something like this,” he said last week after returning home. “There wasn’t much in life that I didn’t think I could handle.”

DEEPEST FEAR

His deepest fear, one that brought tears to his eyes, was that he would become like his father. “That I would not be able to get out of bed.”

Chuck Galbreath suffered a stroke 30 years ago and was bed-ridden until his death.

That was something that the veteran coach and premier racquetball player knew he might not be able to handle. He prayed for deliverance.

Within a week, his body began to respond. He felt a tingling in his fingers.

“It was the tiniest feeling you could imagine,” he said. “But I knew then that everything would be OK.”

Buoyed by faith, surrounded by family and encouraged by multitudes of cards and online messages from those whose lives he’s touched throughout the years, Ron did what we all have come to expect from him. He battled back.