Top Basketball Teams Help Lead the Fight Against Cancer

American Cancer Society
Wednesday, 31 October 2001

Four Teams Head for New York for Coaches vs. Cancer® Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic to Benefit the American Cancer Society

Shooting hoops is a popular and healthy activity for kids and adults all over America who enjoy basketball. Most who love the game take it for granted. Not Georgia Tech forward Michael Isenhour, who was recently diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). It's for people like Isenhour, one of 1.2 million Americans who will be diagnosed this year with cancer, that the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic is being played November 8 and 9, 2001.

Top-seeded college hoops teams Arizona, Florida, Maryland and Temple will shoot it out in the fight against cancer in New York's Madison Square Garden. The event raises money and awareness for the American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health organization.

Collegiate head coaches Lute Olsen (Arizona), Billy Donovan (Florida), Gary Williams (Maryland) and John Chaney (Temple) are key members of a volunteer network of coaches nationwide who work in their home communities to support Coaches vs. Cancer. For Coach Olsen, this game and its purpose have taken on very personal meaning; his wife, Bobbi, passed away on New Year's Day this year after a valiant two-year battle with ovarian cancer.

The Coaches vs. Cancer program teams up the American Cancer Society, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The groups leverage the celebrity of our nation's basketball coaches to reduce cancer risk through education programs and to raise funds for American Cancer Society.

University of Arkansas Head Coach Nolan Richardson stays involved year after year because for him, the fight against cancer is a personal one. In 1967, his seven-year-old nephew succumbed to leukemia; and in 1987, the disease claimed his daughter, Yvonne. Since then, he has become passionate about educating the public about cancer and prevention of the disease through his role as a collegiate basketball coach. On or off the court, he doesn't forget his mission to tell people in the sports community about the urgency for funding.

"There was such a difference in my nephew's care and my daughter's twenty years later," said Richardson. "I think research is the answer to making more progress in the fight against cancer."

Since its inception in 1993, Coaches vs. Cancer has raised more than $16 million to benefit the American Cancer Society. Equally important to raising money, says Richardson, is to raise awareness of how people can protect their health and lower their cancer risk.

As part of their commitment to Coaches vs. Cancer, coaches and their teams work throughout the year to support the mission of the American Cancer Society –by educating young people about cancer and its prevention, raising money to fund lifesaving cancer research, meeting local cancer patients and enlisting others in the fight against the disease. That means a great deal to great deal to cancer patients, survivors and volunteers like John C. Baity, chairman of the American Cancer Society's National Board of Directors.

"Coaches vs. Cancer is a slam dunk for the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer," he said. "These coaches and their teams have the opportunity to run with the ball, and they've done an excellent job year after year. Through their excellent sportsmanship, they encourage the young people they come in contact with to adopt healthy lifestyles."

The Coaches vs. Cancer program started in 1993, the same year that beloved North Carolina State Head Coach Jim Valvano died of the disease. Valvano led his Wolfpack all the way to the National Championship in 1983. Through programs like Coaches vs. Cancer, the American Cancer Society works to offer hope, progress and answers to individuals touched by cancer. Basketball coaches are helping build a cancer-free future in many inventive ways in their own communities, including:

- Presenting healthy lifestyle education programs during their summer basketball camps and appearances at elementary schools

- Serving as advocates for tobacco legislation

- Visiting cancer patients to offer hopeful and compassionate messages during their fight against cancer

- Seeking pledges from individuals and businesses to benefit the American Cancer Society

- Creating fundraising events such as tip-off breakfasts, "Basket Ball" galas and "Coaches vs. Cancer" nights during their home basketball season

- Participating in various high profile events such as the Coaches vs. Cancer Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic, the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge, and the Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Invitational at Caves Valley.

For more information about the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic, visit the event's Web site at www.ikonclassic.com.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.

For information about cancer, call 1-800-ACS-2345 toll-free anytime or visit the American Cancer Society Web site at www.cancer.org. Click on the "Health Information Seekers" section, followed by "Prevention & Early Detection" to get helpful tips about exercise and diet.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org