Coach’s initiative raises thousands for cancer research

It was back in 2007, when Jack Bauer was still saving the world on “24,” The Bourne Ultimatum was dominating the movie box office and the final book of the Harry Potter series — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — was released, when Lehman head women’s basketball coach Eric Harrison came up with an idea of connecting basketball with community service.

It was a rather small endeavor at first, but in the last decade, it has grown into an annual event at Lehman that has helped raise thousands of dollars for a great cause.

Last weekend marked the 10th Anniversary of Lehman’s Coaches vs. Cancer basketball tournament and it just never seems to get old for Harrison and the Lehman community.

“It was something I started 10 years ago, because I saw positive things, like the Jimmy V Foundation,” said Harrison, referring to the charity named after former Iona College and North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993. “I also saw a lot of other schools had done Coaches vs. Cancer events, so I thought it might be a good idea to see if we could do it on the CUNY level. In the beginning, we started out with just one game, and now it has evolved into men’s and women’s games. It’s become pretty successful.”

This year, Lehman invited a pair of women’s teams from Pennsylvania in York College of Pennsylvania and Alvernia University along with SUNY Polytechnic from upstate Utica to join the Lightning in the women’s bracket. On the men’s side, Stevens Tech from New Jersey, Thomas College of Maine and Castleton University of Vermont joined Lehman.

“Teams from all across the country like to come in here and play,” Harrison said. “A lot of teams want to come to New York at Christmas and also help out with our cause with the American Cancer Society. It’s just something that has evolved and now here we are in our 10th year.”

Harrison, who guided the Lightning to the CUNYAC title last season and who is the all-time leader in wins among CUNYAC women’s basketball coaches, said it is a labor of love to get the tournament up and running each season.

“It’s a lot of work. I pretty much run the event where I do most of the leg work,” Harrison said. “It’s a lot of work as far as getting the teams. I help them get great hotel rates at different hotels. I make up the matchups, I provide the referees, I provide the food for the teams, and the T-shirts. So there’s a lot of work that goes into it, but it’s well worth it. We enjoy having the opportunity to raise money for the American Cancer Society.”

Harrison said the fact that Lehman is close to Manhattan makes it an easy sell to teams coming in from out of town for the tournament.

“Over the years, we recommend a lot of places for teams to go see when they’re here,” Harrison said. “Every team wants to see Manhattan, they want to see Times Square and they want to do Rockefeller Center to go down to Ground Zero and the World Trade Center. That’s a part of why teams come here, Christmas in New York. It’s a pretty big draw and our proximity to the city helps us get teams.”

While Harrison said he has been lucky enough not to have cancer affect anyone in his life, the same could not be said for past players’ families that helped inspire the idea of the tournament.

“We came up with the idea because we know a lot of people who have been afflicted by it, as far as our team and different athletes at the school,” Harrison said. “So it was something we wanted to try out at first and it wound up being pretty successful.”

The Lightning lost their opening game in the tournament to SUNY Poly, 78-72, Thursday night before rebounding with a convincing 70-41 win over Alvernia in Friday’s consolation game. Amely Del Rosario led the Lightning with 23 points in the win. But with this tournament, it’s more than just about wins and losses for Harrison.

“We always try and talk to our players about this being an opportunity to enhance somebody else’s life, to do something positive,” Harrison said. “It’s a nice little community service thing we can do and also keep our players aware that there’s more than just basketball out there.”

Harrison doesn’t have an exact amount for how much his tournament has raised over the years, but he knows the Lightning has more than done its part for a cause that is close to the hearts of many.

The funds the Lightning raised range “certainly in the thousands,” Harrison said. “I don’t know the number offhand, but it’s been a pretty nice amount we’ve given them. Everything goes to the American Cancer Society. We’ve had a great relationship with them for the past 10 years.”

The win over Alvernia means the Lightning’s non-conference season is virtually done for the year (there are two non-conference games remaining, at Amherst on Jan. 23 and vs. Purchase on Feb. 8), which means it’s back to the business of defending their CUNYAC title as conference play commences again on Jan. 4 at York College. And Harrison thinks his team is up to the task.

“We’ve played a tough schedule and in all seven of our losses, we’ve had a chance to win all seven of those games,” Harrison said. “It’s been a learning process with a brand new team but we’ve played the toughest non-conference schedule in our conference and it’s all to get us ready for the conference season. We’re excited about jumping back into conference season starting Wednesday and hopefully use that tough non-conference season to get us ready to defend our title.”