St. Francis' Spangler leading the charge for cancer research
St. Francis senior Jack Spangler has seen the school's girls volleyball team Volley for the Cure. He's seen the boys volleyball team Feed the Need.
Spangler, a 3-point shooting guard on the Spartans boys basketball team, has had three grandparents lose their lives to cancer. Both grandparents on the side of his father, Jim, died within six months, Jack said.
If anyone had reason for philanthropy, he figured, he did.
So he instigated the boys basketball team's own event to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the charity founded in 1993 by ESPN and cancer victim Jim Valvano, former North Carolina State men's basketball coach.
"People ask me why I've been doing this," Spangler said in a recent phone interview.
"My family's been affected by cancer a lot," he said. "We're a school that prides itself on academics and service; it goes hand-in-hand here. With the girls program doing the Volley for the Cure (breast cancer research fundraiser) last year, I just felt like the basketball team should contribute."
The team has been selling raffle tickets for several weeks, good for a drawing at halftime of the Spartans' home game Saturday against Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Among the prizes people have donated are tickets to Cubs and Blackhawks games.
The Spartans also are selling T-shirts decorated with Valvano's famous saying: "Don't give up... Don't ever give up." St. Francis athletic director Paul Linden brought a bundle of the shirts over to IMSA for them to peddle as well.
Spartans coach Shawn Healy said the number of shirts sold will approach if not surpass the goal of 530, with sales continuing through the night of the game.
"It's entirely his service project," Healy said of Spangler. "It's not like he's getting service hours or anything like that. He is just a very thoughtful and caring young man."
The enterprising Spangler also arranged for Wednesday to be "shirt day" at St. Francis, so students could wear the Jimmy V shirts instead of the school's usual white or blue collared shirt that's part of their uniform.
Word has definitely gotten around school about the charity effort.
"Yeah, in fact it's been on the announcements every morning. The teachers have been great, they all have been purchasing their T-shirts," Spangler said.
When interviewed last week he said the effort was more than halfway toward the goal of $2,500 for cancer research.
"We just thought (the) basketball (program) should try to leave a mark this year, and what a better way than the Jimmy V Foundation," Spangler said.
Speaking of benefitsNeuqua Valley baseball coach Robin Renner said last Sunday's 13th annual Opportunity Through Baseball event was "a huge success."Speakers Dave Dravecky and Gordie Gillespie each received standing ovations, and the dinner/auction raised $33,000.Over its 13 years Renner believes Opportunity Through Baseball has raised somewhere around $370,000, with 75 percent of the proceeds distributed to charity.Huskie PrideThe Naperville North Athletic Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2010 on Friday, when the presentations are made before the varsity boys basketball game, 7:30 p.m. vs. Wheaton Warrenville South.Joining the club are Dave Bucher, whose 366 wins coaching Huskies boys soccer from 1980-2002 rank fourth all-time in Illinois; all-state soccer player Jim Konrad, Naperville North's current boys coach, who holds the program record for points in a season; and Mike Kuefler, a three-sport athlete who was a catcher on Naperville North's only state-qualifying baseball team, in 1985.Also, Jackelyn Diekemper, Naperville North's female athlete of the year in 2002, a four-year basketball player and all-state softball player who graduated with program records for wins, strikeouts and earned run average; Chad Ganden, a Michigan State swimmer who finished first in the IHSA 100 free style and second in the 50 free in 1995 and 1996; and Scott Kavanagh, a 1995 all-state quarterback who led the Huskies to runner-up and quarterfinal finishes and was on two Rose Bowl teams and two Big Ten champs at Wisconsin.Can't keep those Burdetts downJonathan Burdett is a senior guard on Wheaton Academy's 19-1 boys basketball team. He's not asked to score much, but he's one of those rare players who steals the ball more often than he turns it over, and he leads the Warriors in taking charges, what coach Paul Ferguson calls a "defensive dunk."Little sister Abby Burdett was a solid blocker on the girls sophomore volleyball team last fall. She's also a forward on the sophomore girls basketball team.Their father, Mark, was a three-sport athlete who after graduating from Wheaton Academy in 1986 played basketball at Covenant College in Georgia. Mother Amy (Pollard), played volleyball at Wheaton Academy. And on Jan. 22, uncle Andrew Burdett was inducted into the Judson University Athletic Hall of Fame. A 1995 Wheaton Academy graduate, Uncle Andy lettered four years in men's basketball at Judson and one year in men's soccer. That one year he was a National Christian College Athletic Association All-American who helped Judson to second place at the NCCAA National Tournament.Basketball, that was his main sport. He's in six Judson top-10 categories including third all-time in Eagles scoring. As a college sophomore, Andrew Burdett was an NCCAA All-American and Judson's male athlete of the year.