University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Reece Rocks On
April 5, 2006 | Men's Basketball
April 5, 2006
By Adam Lucas
Seeing the world from the passenger seat of an airplane with a three-year-old provides an entirely different perspective. Spotting a car--they look so tiny from up here!--is a big deal. You can spend the entire descent just before landing challenging each other to find a baseball field.
And sometimes you see a golf course. But Reece Holbrook calls them something different.
"Hey, there's a golf tournament!" he says upon spotting a course. Except he pronounces it "tour-ma-nent," which is much cuter.
Then he turns to his mother, Jennifer Holbrook, who is the assistant to Roy Williams.
"Mama, are we having my golf tour-ma-nent this year?"
Yes, Reece, we are. And all your Tar Heel friends are invited, just like last year.
The second annual Reece Holbrook Golf Classic will be held on May 1 at UNC Finley. The two-day affair will begin on Sunday evening, April 30, with mammoth live and silent auctions at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Farrington Rd. at the corner of Highway 54 and 40. Triangle favorite Liquid Pleasure will play at the auction, and one-of-a-kind Carolina sports memorabilia will be auctioned.
You might not know Reece Holbrook. But odds are that if you've ever spent a sunny afternoon at Boshamer Stadium, you've seen him. He's the soon-to-be four-year-old son of assistant coach Chad Holbrook and one of his favorite things about coming to a baseball game is the chance to ride on the field-grooming Gator with his dad after the final pitch. He is happy, he is charming, and he looked impossibly grown up when he strapped on a backpack and heads off to preschool in the fall of 2005.
Being a kid in the Carolina athletic department has its perks. You get to run on the field after games even when it's not Play Catch with a Kid day. You get to give high fives to David Noel, who knows you by name.
And how many kids do you think want to wrap up in their favorite blanket, relax on the leather couch in Roy Williams's office, and watch The Incredibles on the widescreen plasma TV when the coach is on the road recruiting?
Answer: none, if it means they're recovering from another chemotherapy treatment.
That's something you might not know about Reece. Look at him now, pick him up and twirl him around, and there are no signs. The hair has grown back, the puffy cheeks are gone. He is the simplest of things and the greatest of things all at the same time: a kid. Since you last read about him, he's been to Disney World, he's started school, and he sometimes seems much closer to an adult than to the kid who bounded into Williams's arms at last year's "tour-ma-nent" and announced, "I'm three!" over the microphone to the sold-out field of laughing golfers.
But he still has leukemia. It is a persistent disease. Technically, he is in remission. To you and me, that means he's cured. That's not what it means in leukemia world. It means he still has about two years left on a 3.5 year treatment program. It means he still makes regular visits to the UNC Children's Hospital, where they poke him and prod him and talk about things like "numbers" in serious voices. It means he still knows more than any three-year-old ("I'll be four soon!" he'll tell you) should know about spinal taps.
How much does all this bother him? He stopped by a park recently and spent some time on the tire swing. His younger brother, Cooper, and his mom were swinging with him. Close family friend Stephanie Williams was in charge of pushing the swing, which can be a relentless job with a child.
Reece looked at Stephanie and Jennifer. "Rock on!" he said brightly.
Rocking on is exactly what he's been doing ever since his diagnosis.
To help with Reece's expenses and benefit the Children's Hospital, a group of Reece's friends spearheaded by Stephanie Williams organized the first Reece Holbrook Golf Classic last summer. It was a rousing success, raising over $140,000.
There are numerous ways to be a part of this year's event. Golf slots are still open. Even if you can't play golf (Roy Williams and Dean Smith will be there, among other luminaries), you can attend Sunday night's auction, which will be emceed by Woody Durham. Go to <="" href="http://www.reeceholbrookgolfclassic.org?DB_OEM_ID=3350">the official event website for more information or email Stephanie Williams.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
