University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Tenth Dribble for the Cure Set for Oct. 15
October 05, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA Athletics, joined by its basketball teams, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) and the Cancer Research Program at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, will continue its long-running tradition of Dribble for the Cure on Sunday, Oct. 15. The event, set to begin at Drake Stadium, will involve an easy, approximately one-mile dribble through campus and conclude at Pauley Pavilion with autographs from both Bruin teams.
Registration information is available on the official Dribble for the Cure WEBSITE.
"This is an incredible event that has really grown each year and it's been very well received in our community," said UCLA head men's basketball coach Steve Alford. "I know our players and coaches—both from the men's and women's basketball programs—really enjoy seeing everyone come out together in support of those fighting pediatric cancer."
Sunday's activities will begin at 8:30 a.m. when registration opens. Each participant will receive a Dribble for the Cure 10th Anniversary t-shirt, as well as a sack pack, which can be filled with various giveaways to be handed out at sponsor booths. This will also be the first opportunity for dribblers to mingle with UCLA student-athletes, who will help guide Dribblers along the walk through campus at 10:15 a.m. Both Bruin basketball teams will dribble alongside participants.
The finish-line ceremony, scheduled for 11:15 a.m. at Pauley, will offer an opportunity to recognize everybody who has made Dribble for the Cure possible, including the top fundraisers. The basketball teams will wrap up the day's events by signing autographs and thanking participants.
Former UCLA guard John Vallely, who started for John Wooden's NCAA Championship men's basketball teams in 1969 and 1970, brought Dribble for the Cure to UCLA in 2008 with his own connection to childhood cancer. He and his wife, Karen, lost their daughter, Erin, to the disease in 1992.
"I'm so proud of this little girl motivating me, which has set up a platform like Dribble for the Cure and to expand Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation in such a way that we've changed the survival rate from 40% when my little girl passed away to a little over 85% survival today," said Vallely. "I feel like everybody that we've touched or that we've been around or that have joined Dribble for the Cure or any of the other events that we've put on, have had a hand in changing the world for children who fight cancer."
UCLA head women's basketball coach Cori Close echoed Vallely's sentiment.
"This is not just, sort of a fundraiser with pie in the sky," said Close. "This event, Dribble for the Cure, is keeping kids alive. It is saving lives from pediatric cancer.
"Don't miss out on this. It's fun, it's engaging and it truly makes a difference."
