Spring Break
Philly coaches come out to 'Bowl for the Cure'
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 6/5/09 Section: Sports
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While basketball consumes their life on a daily basis, it comes as no surprise that a myriad of college basketball coaches in the city of Philadelphia would volunteer their time to aid the cause - even if involved a change of sport for a night.
Several of the city's college basketball coaches, including St. Joe's men's head coach Phil Martelli and Temple men's head coach Fran Dunphy, exchanged their basketballs for bowling bowls June 3 as they participated in the second annual Coaches vs. Cancer Bowl for the Cure charity event hosted by Drexel's sport management graduate program at North Bowl in Northern Liberties.
The event, which debuted in 2008, saw success for the second consecutive year, generating over $5,000. However, that number is not completely accurate as it does not include donations that have been sent in and received next week.
"Having the ability to give back to the community always feels good, but supporting this horrible disease was a great cause," event planner Brett Bush, a graduate student in Drexel's Sport Management program, wrote in an e-mail. "Knowing that the event we held will do wonders to help at least one person live a day longer means research is headed in the right direction, and the only way continue research is to provide funding through events like these."
Attendees of the event, which cost $50 per person, were able to enjoy an entertaining evening which included bowling, eating and getting to meet and converse with some of Philadelphia's most success college basketball coaches. They even got a chance to get their picture taken with the Phillies' World Series Trophy.
A silent auction of a myriad of items, which included a pair of tickets to an upcoming Eagles-Patriots game, a Brian Westbrook autographed football and a Jamie Moyer autographed hat proved very favorable, even in-spite of the current economic condition.
Bush was very pleased with the turnout, despite the fact that some of the coaches were unable to attend.
"Seeing coaches like Martelli and Dunphy there, if only for the few minutes they were in attendance, and other coaches like Harry Perretta [Villanova women's head basketball coach], James Clark [Drexel women's assistant coach] and others, was amazing," Bush said. "The hardest part was getting RSVPs from the coaches since this is their only time off and most are not even in the area, but the ones that were around proved that this is a cause important enough to show up for."
Bush credited his classmates as well as his professor Brett Burchette, who he said, "Sat back the whole quarter and allowed [the class] to run the entire event."
"Everyone in the class has their own areas of expertise and used them to the best of their ability to help make this a success," Bush added. "Having a strong backbone as we did in our professor helped keep us on track the entire stages of planning."
Clark took home the event's Most Enthusiastic Bowler award, while Bush's father, Gary Bush, took home honors for highest score, highest average and most strikes.
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