Chip’n Away in memory of Coach Chip Malone

On Saturday, November 7, the Cardiac Car Show held its annual event in Warner Robins. Proceeds from this yearly production help to raise funds for Chip‘n Away @ Heart Disease, a nonprofit organization that promotes heart health education, prevention and organ and tissue donation. The corporation was co-founded by Chip Malone and his wife, Cynthia. Many in middle Georgia and beyond remember Malone was the head boys’ varsity basketball coach at Warner Robins High School before retiring in 2009. The year following his retirement, Malone had to have a heart transplant.

“My husband survived the transplant and did well for four and a half years,” Cynthia recalled. “In that time, we decided that we wanted to give back to the community. We couldn’t sit back and just let something like the number one killer in America have such an impact on other families.”

That’s when the Malones embarked upon establishing Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease, but Cynthia said that the tale of heart disease is not just a Malone story. “Our story reflects that of over 600,000 people who lose a loved one to some form of cardiovascular disease,” she pointed out. “What really happened with us is that we became a statistic, and we weren’t going down without a fight.”

Malone unexpectedly passed away on October 3, 2015 after being placed in the hospital for a scheduled procedure. It was exactly one week before he would have turned 60 years old.

“When I lost my husband, it was shortly before the next car show, which is always the first Saturday in November. The first Saturday in November marks the date of his transplant, and that’s why we scheduled the show on that date,” Cynthia explained. “Before Chip passed, we were visible in eight of the 13 north middle Georgia communities. We would go in with Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease and give ‘Hope for the Heart’—that was the name of it. We would go into high schools as well as colleges and universities and talk about the function of the heart. If the heart’s not happy, none of the organs are truly happy. In the first few years, our story impacted 40,000 individuals.”

When Malone died, his wife decided to continue to carry the torch in his memory, and the Cardiac Car Show is one of the most visible manners in which she does it. This year’s show theme was “Tune up your heart,” which was what Cynthia said Malone had gone into the hospital to do in 2015. She recalled the details as though it all happened yesterday.

“We were going in just for a tune-up; just to check him out. The Georgia-Alabama football game was coming on that Saturday, and we had planned to be home by that time. Chip went into the hospital on Wednesday, and they did a procedure on Thursday. They came in Friday morning and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to have to do a different procedure, and we’ll take care of what we think is going on with your rapid heart rate.’ That was why we went in,” said Cynthia. “His heart rate was faster than it was supposed to be on the immunosuppressant medication. They did the procedure that Thursday. Afterward, the doctor said to me, ‘No infection and no rejection. The heart walls are strong.’ On Friday, I made mention to the doctor that Chip had had a low-grade fever that Thursday night. The doctor looked surprised and his assistant went to the nurse’s station and came back with a little pad that she only showed to him. I saw it in his face that something was wrong, but all he said was that he was going to do some blood work and see what was going on.”

It was determined that Chip had contracted an infection, and from that point, everything spiraled downward. According to Cynthia, “We went in on Wednesday. Thursday, we had the procedure. Friday, we scrapped the plan. And Saturday, the love of my life for 30 years collapsed in my arms, and they were unable to revive him.”

As they were preparing to watch the game from his hospital room. Malone had gotten out of bed to go to the restroom, and while there, he voiced that he was feeling dizzy. He emerged from the restroom as Cynthia was about to call for assistance, and she walked up to him. “I saw him start to lean forward,” she said. “I thought he was flirting with me because he had been flirting earlier. So, when he started to lean, I tiptoed to hug him, and I felt his knees as he went down. I was able to call the nurse, but it was to no avail. They couldn’t revive him.”

That was in 2015, and the way that Cynthia continues to love and honor Malone, is to continue the legacy. “I promote the car show from Tifton to McDonough and further,” she said. “Even though we’re in middle Georgia, we have this community and neighboring communities that we’re also impacting. It’s evident by the visitors and the drivers that we had at the show.”

Although the world is still amid a global pandemic, with 115 vehicles taking part in this year’s event, 2020 was a record-breaking year for the Cardiac Car Show. Cynthia fought back emotional tears as she shared the thing about the show that means the most to her.

“The trophies we give out are nice. The applause are great, and I’m humbled by them,” she admitted. “But the greatest award to me is to have the participants and attendees be alive and well to return for the next show. The support we get is rousing. We are thankful for that, and we appreciate that, but we need more people to answer the call. There is a call to action,” Cynthia stressed. “It’s like going on a picnic and everybody’s ready to get together. The meat is marinating, and we’ve got the charcoal and the lighter fluid, but we get there and don’t have a match to light the flame. When we can’t light the flame, that’s an issue. We need more matches.”

Cynthia said that Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease is already gearing up for 2021. It will be a milestone for the Cardiac Car Show, and she is excited about what lies ahead.

“Of course, we have to do something special. It will be our 10-year anniversary show,” she exclaimed. “We’ve got some surprises we’re working toward. Nothing’s changed,” she assured. “I go at it the Chip Malone way. I plan. I talk to people. You can’t take everybody with you, but those that come along help to make it successful. We get blessed every year. Sometimes it’s at the 11th hour, but we get blessed.”

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