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Truman State University’s assistant women’s basketball coach, Marne
Fauser is apart of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA),
which allowed her to receive an email from the WBCA regarding the
Think Pink week, February 8 – 17 “as an initiative to raise breast
cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in
communities.” Think Pink is also associated with Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer
Fund. Kay Yow, North Carolina State University head women's
basketball coach, has an outstanding record in coaching while battling
breast cancer three times. So as a past president of the WBCA, a
force was united to spread awareness of this awful disease. Fauser
said she met Kay Yow seven years ago, and the respect she has for Yow
and the greatness of this event, Fauser knew she wanted to bring it to
Truman. Last year was the first year of the Think Pink week, where
more than 120 schools participated. Fauser made this event possible
for Truman’s campus this year on Saturday, Feb
ruary 16, in which there were over 1100 schools that participated
across the country. Fauser recruited Kevin White (Truman’s Athletics
Public Relations) to help with the planning along with Lisa Tuggle
(Truman’s Financial Department and Relay for Life committee member),
Linda Anderson (Truman’s assistant athletics director), and a few
Truman students. Fauser brought in Tuggle so that the American Cancer Society’s Relay
for Life could play a part in this Think Pink game. Relay luminary
bags were sold at the game, while education about attending the Relay
event was handed out. Members of the Adair County Relay for Life
passed out educational literature on breast cancer, while promoting
the awareness of cancer. Even though this is only the second year of Think Pink and first year
that this event was brought to Truman’s campus, so much was
accomplished for this event. Fauser said she definitely wanted breast
cancer survivors to be recognized. So during halftime, a few proud
ladies came out to the court to receive much applause and pink
carnations. Other aspects of Think Pink that Fauser made happen was
free admission to the game if the fan wore pink. Along with this
pink, a craziest pink team and fan challenge occurred. Not only did
the winning Relay for Life team dress in all pink, they even decorated
their skin with pink paint. Think Pink t-shirts were sold via
preorders and a limited number at the game, but it was obvious that
everyone wanted to have the addition of the t-shirt when they were all
sold out before the game had even started. As far as the attire for
Truman’s basketball team, the players wore pink shoelaces, pink warm-
up t-shirts, and pink headbands. The coaches and team staff wore pink
dress shirts. The referees even used pink whistles. The cheerleaders
and the Truman Showgirls Dance squad wore pink in their attire as
well. The basketball arena looked like a sea of pink people, which
showed awareness of breast cancer with just that visual.
Another aspect of the game was breast cancer trivia questions being
asked over the microphone during media timeouts. Fans got
opportunities to answers questions to receive donated Truman apparel.
Even though this event was highly educational, Relay for Life received
$450 and the Kay Yow received about $235. I believe Marne Fauser deserves to win this OTM because she was solely
responsible for bringing this nationwide event to Truman’s campus.
She is excited for next year when she knows it will be even bigger and
better than this year. Word Count: 588
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