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Wednesday, November 19, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
ALS-stricken football coach vows disease won't beat him
United Press International
CULLOWHEE, N.C. — It began as a twitch.
One year later, before the 1983 season in which his football team reached the NCAA Division I-AA championship game, Western Carolina head coach Bob Waters learned that the uncontrollable twitch was a symptom of a disease that was going to kill him in three to five years.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," kills 30,000 Americans a year. It works slowly, destroying the neuro-muscular system, rendering victims incapable of caring for themselves, and eventually robbing them of even the ability to breathe.
Waters, 48, learned of his fate during an odyssey from general practitioners to specialists to medical school researchers. The news could not have been worse.
"No one wants to be told they have a disease like this. It's a bad one," Waters said yesterday. "But you can't step back from it. Instead, you have to step up and fight it, face-to-face."
"A draw is all I can ask for. The way to beat a disease like this is to fight it to a draw, and then hang on long enough for them to find a cure."
Waters said he has fought the fatal disease to a standstill, though not without costs, both financial and physical. He has lost the use of his right arm and retains only a small amount of feeling in his left, which hangs limp by his side. He's given up his role as athletic director at Western Carolina.
Some say that Waters, who owns a record of 110-77-6 in 17 seasons at the Southern Conference school, will be forced to retire from coaching when his 6-4 Catamounts finish their season Saturday at North Carolina State, ranked 19th in Division I-A.
Waters says, "that's crazy." People who know him agree. They say he's a man who can beat ALS.
"It may be in some type of remission," said Steve White of the WCU sports information department. "The deterioration seems to somehow have slowed. He's been in a special program at the Baylor School of Medicine, and they're working feverishly down there. He says he's going to hang on until they find a cure."
Even his opponents are awed by Waters' tenacity.
"He's a true gentleman, but he's a real competitor, too," said North Carolina State head coach Dick Sheridan, a former Southern Conference coach at Furman who's known Waters since the early 70s.
"You can't hear of something like what's happening to him without it hurting you deep down inside. You feel helpless. But you also see what sort of integrity and courage this man has."
courage this hall has.
Coming off a losing season in 1985, the Catamounts were picked to finish in the Southern Conference's lower half. Instead, they battled from a 1-3 start, challenged for the league crown, and ended up second in the nine-member conference.
"You know, we all get tired and we all have petty problems in our lives," said Western Carolina tailback Milton Beck. "I'll be thinking that, and then it'll pop out of the back of my mind — 'Look at him.' A lesser man would give up, but he's out here every day."
Kicker Kirk Roach said, "You'll be thinking you down, and then you'll look over at coach Waters. His problems make ours look insignificant. It makes you try harder."
Waters said the relationship between him and his players keeps him alive. Few things have made him feel better than the effort his Catamounts have put out this season. Waters says.
sion, where they were still learning from me. That would be something positive that's come from all this." Waters said
Basketball
Continued from p. 11
the game might be an indicator of how far the team has come since the beginning of practice.
“It’s hard to tell how far we’ve come because we’ve been playing each other,” said 5-10 guard Mark Turgceon.
The Jayahaws have a record of 33 straight wins on the Allen Field house floor Tonight's game, however, will not be counted if Kansas wins because the game is an exhibition and not counted as a regular season game.
Turgeon said that the pressure to do as well as last year's Final four team, which ended it's season with a record of 35.4, has mounted as the first game approached.
Probable Starters
Kansas
F Danny Manning (6-11)
F Chris Piper (6-8)
C Mark Pellock (6-9)
G Mark Turgeon (5-10)
G Cedric Hunter (6-0)
Russia
F Valery Tikhonko (6-9)
F Valery Goborov (6-9)
C Vladimir Tkachenko (7-2)
G Vladas Khoniusch (6-3)
G Tit Sok (6-3)
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