Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Friday, May 14, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
MLB:
Anaheim vs. Baltimore
5 p.m. Sunday, ESPN
Rollin’ for a cause
A group of Oregon athletes has banded together to raise money
in a wheelchair basketball game tonight at McArthur Court
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
A group of Oregon student-athletes met at the Casanova Center
on a crisp May afternoon, their spirits high and health intart.
Just days before, Davie Untz sat in Doernbecher's Children's
Hospital in Portland, receiving chemotherapy to treat a
rare fomi of leukemia.
It's Philadelphia Chromosome Positive, and it
rarely strikes children. But Untz, 3 1/2 years old,
is stricken with the cancer and needs a bone
marrow transplant.
Knowing this, Lauren Westendorf, an Oregon
volleyball player, has banded together with a
group of student-athletes in hopes of helping
him. She's got a tag team
rosier or uregon Dasket
ball players, stretching
from Aaron Brooks to ,
Chelsea Wagner, Jordan \
Kent to Carolyn Ganes,
who are willing to help
raise money by playing in
a wheelchair basketball
game today at 7 p.m.
McArthur Court.
It's called Rollin' for a Reme
dy. This is the second year, and
the second chance for event
founder Westendorf and other
athletes to raise money for those
needing medical care.
It just turns out that Untz is
in extra special need of care this "
year.
"Initially, it started out as an ex
tra project and something that
would be fun for the athletes," said
Westendorf, who is also co-presi
dent of the Student-Athlete Advi
sory Committee. "Now it's some
thing that allows the athletes to
give back to the community that
gives so much to them."
Davie Untz is a Eugene resi
dent. His mother, Lynn, is a sin
gle mom who adopted him just a
few days after he was born in
Guatemala. She brought him to
Eugene four months later, where he
has been living ever since.
When Davie was diagnosed, he and
Lynn were in Virginia visiting her
mother. He was taken to a hospital in
Photo Illustration by Tim Bobosky Photographer
Norfolk, and eventually Davie was found to have the rare form
of leukemia.
A little while later, the two got more involved with Oregon ath
letics. They've been to football practices and other Oregon Ath
letic Department functions.
"It was nice to really have the contacts with the athletes,"
Lynn said. "It's been great for him. I le's kind of attached
to a few of them by look or name, especially if they've
had some contact with him."
And now, Davie is the guest of honor at
the charity game. To help support
Davie's cause, the event's charge is $3
for adults and $2 for students with
identification, while children 10 and
younger are free.
Davie may not be able to attend,
but Lynn said there may be a "win
dow" when he can visit.
"Just for them to be able to take us
on and help us out was very comfort
ing," she said.
A dangerous experience
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood that affects the bone marrow. It
occurs when white cells are produced but do not mature fully. The
cells then begin to reproduce, even if there is no space for them.
Leukemia is the most common form of cancer, with 2,700
children affected each year, according to Doernbecher's Web
site, http://www.ohsuhealth.com. However, Davie's form of the
cancer is less common.
Philadelphia Chromosome Positive was discovered in 1960,
but it wasn't until 1973 that scientists could decipher the exact
cause of the cancer. It is caused by the translocation, or ex
change, of chromosomes 9 and 22.
The chromosome, according to “Ihe American I leritage College
Dictionary," is "a circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains
the hereditary information necessary for cell life." The translocation
of chromosomes 9 and 22 creates an abnormal gene This gene pro
hibits normal cell growth, giving way to leukemia.
After chemotherapy, the only way to ensure full health for Davie
is a bone marrow transplant, which "involves taking cells that are
normally found in the bone marrow (stem cells), filtering those
cells, and giving them back either to the patient they were taken
from or to another person," according to the Doembecher site.
Lynn said their biggest hope right now is to keep Davie in
"temporary remission" so that a transplant can be performed
next month.
Helping out Davie
Ian Jaquiss knows something about wheelchair basketball. Lie
plays for the Portland Wheelblazers, a group that competed
against the Ducks in last year's charity game.
He won't be at McArthur Court this year — the Wheelblazers
will be in British Columbia — but said he will miss the
Turn to WHEELCHAIR, page 8
Oregon honors
team’s seniors
at home finale
No. 12 Oregon closes its home season
this weekend with three games in two
days, including Saturday's “Senior Day”
With the NCAA Regional Tournament right around the
corner, the time comes for softball teams to wind down
their regular seasons.
The 12th-ranked Ducks (37-17 overall, 9-9 Pacific-10 Con
ference) are on that trek now, with a single game against No.
7 Stanford at 2 p.m. Friday and a doubleheader against No. 2
California at 11 a.m. Saturday, both at I lowe Field. Sunday's
regional selection show the only things standing between
Oregon and the regional tournament.
Saturday's doubleheader marks "Senior Day" for the
Ducks, who will honor five players — California's lone sen
ior, Roni Rodrigues, Oregon seniors Julie Jaime, Anissa
Meashintubby, Jenn Poore and Oregon junior 1 leather Mun
son — prior to Saturday's first pitch.
"You always hate to say goodbye," Oregon head coach Kathy
Arendsen said. "Four outstanding, wonderful young women.
Without a doubt, this team will not be th&same next year, just
like we are not the same as we were last year. Ihese young
women have so much to be proud of — they are part of the
legacy of who we are becoming."
Poore, a career .260 batter coming into her senior cam
paign, leads the Ducks with a .323 batting average this sea
"Jenn's our crier," Munson said. "It's going to be pretty emo
tional for the seniors, Jenn and Anissa especially."
Munson is in her second season with the Ducks, spending
her days in the bullpen preparing Oregon's pitchers. While a
junior in eligibility, Munson will graduate this year and will
not return for her final year of eligibility.
Meashintubby, a four-year pitcher for the Ducks, has put
her name in multiple Oregon top-10 lists. She sits at No. 5
on Oregon's career strikeouts list with 306.
Jaime, who transferred to Oregon after two years at Long
Beach City College, is a solid utility player who has seen most
of her action playing in the outfield this season. She was voted
Most Inspirational by her teammates after the 2003 season.
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
I iC* tC
SOFTBALL
son. She has started every game, bat
ting primarily in the leadoff spot and
catching Oregon's pitchers.
"I'm going to be crying," Poore said
with a smile. "I'll probably cry during
the first inning or so, then I'll get over
it. Oh, but I have to play."
Turn to SOFTBALL, page 8
Full Oregon contingent
heads out to Pac-lOs
with big expectations
The Ducks have an early lead
entering the last round of
the Pac-10 Championships
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
In a team meeting earlier this week,
Brandon Holliday shared his thoughts
about the upcoming Pacific-10 Confer
ence Championship meet.
But before the senior could utter a
man year coming to this meeting and
all the seniors saying what they had on
their minds, trying to get us pumped up
DUCK
TRACK
word, he did
a little remi
niscing.
"I remem
bered back
to my fresh
and focused for the (Pac-10s)," Holliday
said. "I knew (I was going to be a senior)
someday, but you look back and say,
'man, it seems like a few weeks ago I was
a freshman and now I'm giving that
same speech to the underclassmen.'"
What did the Beaverton native have
to say? lust a little reminder to his Ore
gon teammates about the hustle need
ed to beat UCIA
"Stay positive," Holliday said "Finish
every race all the way through the line
and don't ever give up. And if you see a
blue shirt — if you see any shirt go get
'em — but if you see a blue shirt,
definitely go get 'em."
The Bruins entered the weekend meet
in Tucson, Ariz., as favorites to unseat the
Duck men as conference champions.
With Holliday and a 25-point per
formance from four Ducks at the past
Turn to TRACK, page 12
NCAA hopes to beat curve
on student-athlete gambling
Thirty-five percent of surveyed male
student-athletes said they had
engaged in sports betting recently
By Teddy Greenstein
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
CHICAGO — When stories broke in February
about the lurid side of college football recruiting —
tales of campus visits that included strip dubs, alco
hol, private planes and lobster dinners — the NCAA's
response was to form a task force to initiate reform.
"In the past, the NCAA has often waited until a
problem boiled over and then reacted," NCAA presi
dent Myles Brand said.
That apparently will not be the case with another
potential campus epidemic: Student-athletes betting
on sports.
Brand joined several colleagues in Chicago on
Wednesday to discuss the findings of an NCAA-com
missioned study that found significant levels of gam
bling among college athletes.
Brand also announced the formation of a 26-mein
ber task force that outgoing Notre Dame president Rev.
Edward A. Malloy will head to examine the problem
and offer solutions.
"We're trying to get ahead of the curve and make
a difference," Malloy said. "This isn't responding to
(scandals) at Kentucky, CCNY, Boston College,
Northwestern."
Brand repeatedly said sports gambling threatens
both the welfare of student-athletes and the integrity
of the game.
While nearly 35 percent of male student-athletes
surveyed said they had engaged in some type of sports
betting over the past year, the more alarming numbers
were these: 1.1 percent of football players said they
had "taken money for playing poorly in a game" and
2.3 percent admitted they had been asked to affect the
outcome of a game because of gambling debts.
In all, more than 49,000 student-athletes (out of
360,000) said they bet on college sports last year. The
forms included NCAA basketball pools, parlay cards
and wagers through a bookie or with a friend.
"With percentages like these, there is no college or
university in the NCAA that can safely claim it does not
have a gambling problem on campus," Brand said.
And though the survey was anonymous, officials
Turn to GAMBLING, page 8