University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Real Life
March 22, 2007 | Men's Basketball
March 22, 2007
The following story appeared originally in the April 2007 issue of Tar Heel Monthly.
By Adam Lucas
On the morning of June 27, 2006, most Carolina fans were feeling pretty sorry for themselves.
I know I was. The Diamond Heels had advanced all the way to the final game of the college baseball season before losing a heartbreaker in the finale of the best-of-3 championship series against Oregon State. It was a painful defeat--the run to Omaha had been exhilarating, but it had also highlighted exactly how hard it is to get there. Bounces have to go the right way. Some hitters get hot...and others get cold.
It was easy to think, "We'll just make it back here next year," but it's not that easy. The whole thing had seemed like a dream, and now it was time to wake up.
Most of us were dreading dipping our toes back into the world beyond Omaha. The voice mail, email, and regular mail had piled up during the two weeks that we were drinking Zesto's shakes and eating Kong burgers. It would take at least a week to rejoin the real world.
Some members of the traveling party didn't have that luxury. As soon as the last pitch was thrown, 4-year-old Reece Holbrook boarded a plane and spent most of the rest of the night on a flight home. Reece, the son of assistant baseball coach Chad Holbrook and basketball office staffer Jennifer Holbrook, had a doctor's appointment at 7 a.m. the next morning.
Most of us live in a world where appointments that conflict with our schedule are simply rescheduled for a more convenient time. But as the Holbrook family has learned over the past nearly three years, leukemia doesn't care about convenience. Leukemia takes the schedule you thought was important, chews it out, and spits it out. You are wide awake at 3 a.m. and fast asleep at 3 p.m. A trip to Disney World can be going perfectly...until a fever sends you to the hospital.
Diagnosed on Sept. 7, 2004, Reece is almost into the third year of a treatment plan that has gone well. Spot him at Boshamer Stadium this spring and you probably wouldn't know he's battling leukemia.
But he's a member of a fraternity no one wants to join. An entirely different world that most of us never think about exists within the walls of the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It's a world where children fight cancer every day, and some of the simple luxuries most of us take for granted with our kids aren't so simple.
To make a small contribution to that world, the Reece Holbrook Golf Classic was started in 2005 and has since raised approximately $250,000. This year marks the third anniversary, and the event will once again have a mammoth auction on Sunday, April 29--this year's auction is presented by Roy and Wanda Williams--and a special round of golf on April 30 at Chapel Hill Country Club.
The auction has become one of the best ways for Tar Heel fans to locate one-of-a-kind Carolina memorabilia. Some highlights from the first two years of the auction:
The big man bids: The second item auctioned in 2005 was 18 holes of golf with Carolina standout Brad Daugherty. Bidding had reached $1,500 when the current NASCAR commentator spoke up. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll give you $3,000, and the guy who is the high bidder right now can play golf with me tomorrow." In many ways, that act of generosity set the tone for the wild success of the event.
The shirt off Mick's back: Just how wild did the bidding get in 2005? At one point, auctioneer Mick Mixon jokingly offered the shirt off his back for sale for the right price. Hundreds of dollars later, Mick was peeling off the bright orange shirt and handing it to the lucky winner.
Perfect timing: Roy Williams donated a one-of-a-kind Carolina basketball jersey manufactured by Nike for the 2006 auction. He had recruiting responsibilities the next day but wanted to stop by the auction on Sunday evening. He planned his entrance perfectly--just as he walked into the room, bidding on his jersey was going over $10,000. All the coach could do was smile and shake his head.
The right message: As part of last year's auction, former NBC-17 television anchor Sharon Delaney spoke to the crowd about her daughter, Macie, who had been diagnosed with cancer before she turned one year old. Sharon had bought Macie a shirt that read, "Busy Kickin' Cancer's Butt!" One week after Macie wore the shirt, she died at the age of 10 months old. Basketball letterman Michael Norwood also addressed the auction crowd about his daughter, Nell, who died from cancer at the age of three in 2002.
"You can't imagine what we'd do for one more day with Nell," he said. "Just one more day is so precious."
The Carolina family gets that day with Reece--a Star Wars expert, video game master, and Puppy lover--every year at the RHGC. To learn how you can be a part of it, email Stephanie Williams or Adam Lucas or visit the event's official website.
