Mark Gottfried Spoke on Capitol Hill Today
9/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 23, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - University of Alabama head basketball coach Mark Gottfried spoke on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning. Coach Gottfried was one of five coaches selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to represent Coaches vs. Cancer. He was joined on Capitol Hill by fellow collegiate head basketball coaches Jim Calhoun of UConn, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Fran Dunphy of Temple and Gary Williams of Maryland.
The coaches joined lawmakers, cancer survivors and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network to demand that Congress pass legislation regulating tobacco products and boost the federal investment in cancer research, prevention and early detection after five years of flat or cut funding, according to the American Cancer Society.
Among the lawmakers present was Alabama State Representative Artur Davis. He is standing in this photo to the right of Coach Gottfried, the fourth from the left of the men who are wearing suits.
Coach Gottfried and the Alabama basketball program make cancer a special cause. Coach Gottfried was there on behalf of all cancer survivors and victims. He lost a close friend to the disease on May 9, 2000 when his Crimson Tide assistant coach, Robert Scott, passed away, a victim of stomach cancer. A year later another of his assistants on staff, Tom Kelsey, was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in one of his kidneys. After having the kidney removed, Kelsey fully recovered. He is now head coach at Belhaven University and is cancer free.
