FOR THE LOVE OF CHILDREN AND MAN’S BEST FRIEND
By Walter J. Sommerfelt
A few months ago, I shared with you an article I had written on volunteers and my opinion that they are indeed the backbone of our sport. I received a few very posi- tive responses from that message and one of them suggested that I should share my story to show that it was not just talk. My story illustrates that when you think outside the box and explore that seemingly impossible thought with other forward-thinking people you can make a difference. This is a true story about one man’s idea of sharing his love of dogs and a desire to do something to help the Children of St. Jude Children’s Re- search Hospital inMemphis, Tennes- see. It shows how that idea—with the help of a great group of people —de- veloped into a special event that left a small footprint on a city and a love for man’s best friend. THE ST. JUDE STORY This story started after I became in- volved in a volunteer effort for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For those of you who may not know much about St. Jude’s, it all began with its founding by the entertainer Danny Thomas. It was founded on the prem- ise that “no child should die in the dawn of life.” The idea for the hospital was from a promise that Mr. Thomas had made to a saint many years be- fore its founding. At the time Thomas was a struggling Catholic comedian
trying to get a break in his career and living from paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended Mass in Detroit and put his last $7.00 in the offering plate. He prayed to St. Jude Thad- deus (the Catholic patron saint for lost causes) for a means to provide for his growing family. About a week later he obtained a gig that paid ten times what he placed in the offering plate. Following that Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if the saint made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thom- as became an extremely successful TV star and comedian and built St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as a shrine to honor his promise to St. Jude Thaddeus. In 1957, Danny Thomas—who was a Lebanese American—founded AL- SAC (American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities) the organiza- tion that would help him realize his dream. ALSAC became the fund- raising arm of the future hospital. The City of Memphis, Tennessee was chosen as the location for the project at the suggestion of Roman Catholic Cardinal Samuel Stritch, a Tennes- see native who had been a spiritual advisor to Mr. Thomas ever since presiding at Mr. Thomas’s confir - mation in Danny’s boyhood home of Toledo, Ohio.
It should also be noted that although it was named in honor of Mr. Thom- as’s patron saint, the hospital is not a Catholic hospital. Rather, it is a secu- lar institution not affiliated with any religious organization. Five years after the founding of AL- SAC, Danny Thomas’s dream was re- alized when St. Jude opened in 1962. Since that opening, many discoveries at St. Jude have made possible nu- merous changes in the way that Doc- tors treat childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. The survival rates for acute lymphoblastic leuke- mia (the most common of all child- hood cancers) has grown from four percent in 1962 to 94% today. Since St. Jude opened, the survival rate from all childhood cancers has risen from 20% to 80%. It is not hard to see what a wonderful tribute grew from that humble prom- ise of a struggling young father-to- be. But I guess I need to get back to my story. WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO? After personally witnessing the daily miracles at St. Jude, I asked myself what could I do to help make a differ - ence? As I thought about it, I consid- ered my experience with the sport of dogs and wondered if that could be a source for a fund-raising event. My thoughts at the time were that our dogs are known as Man’s best friend,
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