At the charity stripe
Bellmont players to raise money to fight cancer
By Greg Jones
High school sports editor
In March,Lou and Vicky Koning will celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary.But for about one-third of that time,another 鈥淐鈥 besides commitment has been in the picture 鈥 cancer.
But along with players and coaches of Lou鈥檚 Bellmont girls basketball team,the Konings are putting up a fight against the disease that affects millions of people,whether they have cancer or not.
鈥淲e fight because the good ones not around any more can鈥檛 fight,鈥 Vicky said.
The battle includes raising money for local and national foundations for cancer treatment and research that involves pledges and making free throws.
Vicky,51,is a 10-year survivor of breast cancer,while Lou,59,has been diagnosed with two types of cancer in the past year,Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and at the beginning of the school year,Basel Cell Carcinoma skin cancer.
鈥淚t has been a hard year with Lou being diagnosed,鈥 Vicky said.鈥淚t has been hard on Lou,but we are all supportive of each other.I am fortunate,but other people saw the torture I went through,and good can come through the bad.That鈥檚 why we got involved.鈥滭br/>Lou had surgery to remove some moles on his face for the BCC skin cancer and gets his blood levels checked every six months for the CCL.
鈥淚 think of her more than me,鈥 Lou said.鈥淲hen the time comes,I will worry more about me.She has been 10 years,and that is more important for me at this point.鈥滭br/>Lou insists the work by him and his team is more about awareness and raising money than anything to do with his wife or himself.It started as a money-raising project four years ago,but has turned into a passion for Lou Koning and members of his girls basketball program.But in the beginning it was something that began as a philanthropic project for the team to be involved in,but not as a dedication to Vicky.
鈥淲e had an athletic director here that said we should do something for the community,鈥 Lou said.鈥淚 said let鈥檚 do free throws,and what should we do it for?The girls said cancer because of your wife.I thought it was a great idea.
鈥淚t was a project that started to do something good for the community.I told the girls that they should decide.My wife had breast cancer,and they said let鈥檚 do it to fight cancer.鈥滭br/>The program has raised more than $36,000 in four years for Adams Memorial Hospital Oncology unit,the American Cancer Society鈥檚 Relay for Life in Adams County and the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research.
鈥淲e have raised a lot of money for the foundation,and not only the foundation,but also the hospital,鈥 Bellmont senior Katie Witte said.鈥淚 think it is very important these days.They don鈥檛 have a cure for everything right now,but raising money is saving more lives.Someone could be saved by just raising money.鈥滭br/>The money has been raised by pledges from the community which involve free-throw shooting in games and special extra sessions.The goal this year was to top last year鈥檚 total of $10,000.They did that with $13,620.
鈥淚 have seen how much cancer can affect people鈥檚 lives,鈥 said senior Andrea Braun,who raised the most money with $2,781.鈥淚t is something that definitely is a problem.That鈥檚 the goal is to find a cure for cancer,and you have to have money to be able to find those things.We are trying to do our part to help out.Hopefully someday we can conquer it.When we see people hard to conquer those things,it motivates us to fight hard on the court.鈥滭br/>Braun knows a little something about the effects of cancer,losing an uncle and grandmother and a classmate and friend,Brian Miller,to the disease.She also knows a little something herself about fighting the good fight against a serious medical situation since she survived a brain hemorrhage as a freshman.
Braun) has been through the battle,and she knows what it means to fight something,鈥 Lou said.
Not that the team expects any benefits from their campaign against cancer,they have gotten one in particular,improved free-throw shooting.
鈥淲e have progressed immensely this year,鈥 Witte said.鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what our percentage was at the beginning of the year,but we are doing better right now.It has increased a lot.鈥滭br/>Practice has helped percentages as well as raising money.
鈥淕irls were coming before practice,and then girls would stay after practice and shoot them because everybody wanted to do some good for (raising money),鈥 Braun said.
The team has improved from an early season mark of 50 percent to around 63 percent at the end of the season.Not a great number,but certainly an improvement.But making free throws can鈥檛 always be measured in percentages.
鈥淭hey are shooting for something they can be proud of,鈥 Lou said.鈥淭he community really backs us to get as much money as we can.鈥滭br/>From the start,the free-throw program involved the Jimmy V Foundation,which began after former North Carolina State coach and ESPN analyst Jimmy Valvano died of cancer.
The Jimmy V Foundation鈥檚 involvement went down a little after the first year,prompting Vicky to seek out one of the supporters of the program,ESPN鈥檚 Dick Vitale,at the NCAA men鈥檚 basketball Final Four.She met Vitale鈥檚 wife and talked about the program and the two now have regular phone conversations.
Lou has been at Bellmont since 1979 and been the girls basketball coach for eight years.He doesn鈥檛 know if he will continue as the coach,but does now he would like to see the money-raising program continue.
鈥淎s long as I am coaching this will continue,鈥 he said.鈥淚 hope we have a legacy and whoever gets the job it will keep it going.鈥滭br/>gjones@jg.net