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Cancer event special for Donlon

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By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 11:58 AM Tuesday, November 1, 2011

FAIRBORN — Although the initial oversight was quickly corrected and Billy Donlon will be an integral part of the Southwest Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Tip-Off Breakfast on Wednesday morning at the Hyatt Regency in Cincinnati, the Wright State basketball coach now wishes he could be someplace else at that time.

His heart will be in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook — at St. Norbert’s Catholic Church — where the funeral Mass of his family’s longtime parish priest, Father Richard Valker, will be held.

He was the priest who officiated Donlon’s marriage some years ago in Ocracoke Island, N.C.

And he was the sports fan who often came to Dayton over the years. First it was to see Dayton Flyers basketball games, and then, when Donlon became a WSU assistant coach, he’d show up at the Nutter Center. Last season, Donlon’s first as the Raiders head coach, he made all four games that WSU played in Chicago.

Late last summer, when Donlon’s 62-year-old mother, Maryann, was in the final six weeks of her nine-year battle with breast cancer, it was Father Valker who came every day to bless her. On many of those days he found Billy right there with his mom.

And then as Valker himself dealt with leukemia, it was Donlon’s dad, Bill Sr., who came to visit him twice a day.

As you can see, Billy Donlon’s Coaches vs. Cancer involvement isn’t just some ceremonial appearance, it’s a drive-through-the-night, sit-at-the-bedside, ache-of-the-heart commitment.

“My family alone has had three cancer-related deaths in the past 13 months,” Donlon said through some heartfelt reflection Monday afternoon. “My mother died Sept. 3 (2010). My Uncle John died in April after they found a tumor on his lung. And now Father Valker — he’s been our family priest for over 20 years.”

Monday evening after practice, Donlon planned to drive to Chicago so he could spend a few hours at Father Valker’s wake Tuesday afternoon. Then he’ll drive back for Wednesday’s 8 a.m. breakfast.

“I actually got to say my good-byes to Father Valker last week,” Donlon said. “We had a day off so I drove up to Chicago to see my dad and him and then I drove back late that night. It’s what anybody would do for a man like that.”

Donlon’s dad was a high school coach for two decades and spent a dozen years as a college assistant at Providence and Northwestern. Although he taught his son the game, it was Maryann who especially molded Billy.

“Dad was the basketball mind, but Mom ... she was everything else,” Donlon said. “My dad was gone a lot with his job, so Mom was at home talking care of the three kids.”

She was the chauffeur, the disciplinarian and, Donlon said, “she taught us toughness and competitiveness and how to fight.”

Maryann showed that first hand when she was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.

“They told her she’d have six to eight months, and she beat it for eight years,” Donlon said.

“Then came the call I got while I was recruiting in Las Vegas. Her doctors said to come back home. I remember sitting in the room with her and my dad and my two sisters and the oncologist. She looked exactly the same as she always did. Her mind was very sharp. You couldn’t imagine she’d be gone two months later.

“That brought home how very little control you have — even when you are as tough as my mom was. That’s why we need all the help we can get fighting this disease.”

And that’s why he felt left out when the Southwest Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer campaign was first announced a couple of months ago and involved Dayton’s Archie Miller, Miami’s Charlie Coles, Mick Cronin from the University of Cincinnati and Xavier’s Chris Mack ... but not him.

It was a glitch organizers quickly fixed, and Wright State — which is sending several administrators to the event — is fully embracing the project. Donlon appreciates the platform:

“Right or wrong, in our society sports figures are always looked at as spokespeople. I’m not saying I’m a huge spokesperson, but if you look at somebody like Charlie Coles and what he’s done, when he talks you need to listen.

“And Archie Miller and Mick Cronin and Chris Mack all are good representatives. And all of our universities are involved.”

The breakfast is open to the public — to purchase tickets contact Liz Johnson at (888) 227-6446, ext. 4220, or buy them at the door — and will include lots of basketball talk, auction items and cancer education.

Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, the national chair of Coaches vs. Cancer, will be the keynote speaker. At the initial press conference Miller said he hoped Coaches vs. Cancer would include an event in Dayton next year.

Donlon spoke highly of all the coaches, especially Miller, whom he watched in college. He was at North Carolina-Wilmington while Miller was playing for North Carolina State.

“I certainly wish Archie nothing but great success, which I think he’ll have,” he said. “He was a very good player in college and he’ll be a good coach. I agree with him, we ought to have an event in Dayton, too.

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