BC senior John West named captain of inaugural Lou Gehrig Community Impact team
It had already been a memorable February weekend for 太阳城网赌平台 pitcher John West ’24. 然后就变得更好了.
Starting his last season with BC baseball, West and his teammates were in Arizona preparing to play their second game of the MLB Desert Invitational Tournament. 比赛前, he was introduced to Jon “Boog’’ Sciambi ’92, TV announcer for the Chicago Cubs and a leading figure in the fight against ALS, 也被称为Lou Gehrig病.
That was when BC baseball coaches Todd Interdonato and Greg Sullivan told West he had been named to the inaugural Lou Gehrig Community Impact Team, which honors nine collegiate baseball players for community service and philanthropy, contributions to the success of their respective teams, and embodying the spirit and character of the fabled Gehrig.
There was more: Because he’d received the most votes of the nine, West had earned the title of Community Impact Team captain.
The honor resounded deeply for West, a Shrewsbury, Mass., native and communication major who has a very personal experience with ALS: His father fought a four-year battle with the neurodegenerative disease before passing away in 2014. 从那时起, West has devoted time and energy to spreading awareness, 筹集资金, and making an impact on the lives of those affected by ALS.
“I hadn’t been expecting it and I really didn’t know exactly what it meant until that moment,韦斯特最近回忆道。. “It was really cool to share the moment with Todd and Sull, especially having met Boog knowing how passionate he is about the cause.”
4月25日, West and his BC teammates played their 12th annual ALS Game at Fenway Park in collaboration with the Boston Red Sox. It’s an event the Eagles look forward to every season for reasons that some, 像西, 会叫强大和重要吗. “We Play for Pete” is the slogan associated with BC’s ALS Game, in memory of former BC baseball captain Pete Frates ’07, whose heroic battle with ALS served as the inspiration for the Ice Bucket Challenge that has helped raise an estimated $220 million worldwide for ALS research.
Created by 像卢一样生活基金会 in partnership with Phi Delta Theta, the Community Impact Team also included players from Georgia Institute of Technology, 路易斯安那州立大学, 他在理邦学院, 范德比尔特大学, 维克森林大学, 韦恩州立大学, 联合学院(肯塔基).), and the University of California-Berkeley.
Paula and Jim Duhamel with John West (Meg Kelly)
As part of his captainship award, West was given $4,000 to support a local family affected by ALS. 在ALS比赛之前, West was recognized for his Community Impact Team captainship, and—thanks to assistance from Phi Delta Theta, 像卢一样生活基金会, PerMobil, and Numotion—West presented ALS patient Jim Duhammel a state-of-the-art, 电动bc牌轮椅.
Frates’ sister Jennifer Mayo ’04 paid West the ultimate compliment in an interview with ACC Network: “Pete is personified in Johnny. You meet him and he has that same vibrant energy, that spirit, and that aura around him. 他真是个心地善良的人.”
West is gratified at the increased public awareness of ALS. It was a different story when his father was battling the disease.
“I remember when nobody knew or understood what ALS was,” he said. “然后突然之间, Pete Frates comes out with the Ice Bucket Challenge with Pat Quinn”—a friend of Frates who had also been diagnosed with ALS—“and now everyone in the world knows what ALS is. 这是难以置信的.”
West’s service activities have included Team Impact, a program that helps place children with disabilities and illness with sports teams, 渐冻症慈善基金会, 以及皮特·弗雷茨基金会. West is also a volunteer for BC’s Youth Little League Day and Brighton’s Main Street Business Trick or Treat, and is a Welles Crowther Red Bandanna number 19 patch recipient—an honor given annually to a player from each of BC’s sports teams who best personifies the motto “men and women for others.”
West is gladdened by the progress against ALS, but feels there is still much work to be done, and his dedication to the ALS community will continue to persevere. He hopes to play baseball professionally and to leverage that platform to continue spreading awareness of ALS and support for those affected by it. After all, as West says, “this is baseball’s fight to win.”
与此同时, as he nears the end of his undergraduate years at the Heights, he is grateful for those who have had such a positive impact on his BC experience.
“This is a really special place full of special people, and what they say about BC is true: It’s a place of men and women for others. I think that’s what I’m going to take with me from my time at 太阳城网赌平台.”