Wharton ballers shoot up to save lives
Matt FLynn, WG'07
Issue date: 1/22/07 Section: News
The Wharton Basketball Club sent two teams to Harvard on Saturday, December 2nd to participate in the inaugural MBA ALS Basketball Challenge. The tournament
field included teams from Wharton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Tuck, and Stern. The underlying purpose of the day's events was to bring together MBA students to "compete in basketball, compete for prizes, compete for donations but most importantly
compete for life."
Despite strong efforts, Wharton 1 lost in the tournament's semi-finals and Wharton 2 wasn't able to advance beyond the tournament's round-robin stage. Ultimately, Harvard managed to advance two teams to the championship game, in which their second year team was victorious.
The MBA ALS Basketball Challenge was inspired by a Harvard Business School student's fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease. Avichai Kremer arrived at HBS in 2004 after serving as a platoon commander in the Israeli military and subsequently as a manager for an Israeli defense-electronics company. However, only a few months into his first year at HBS, Mr. Kremer was diagnosed with ALS.
ALS destroys the brain's ability to control
the body's muscles and ultimately leaves its victims in a state of paralysis, relentlessly attacking motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. As these neurons die, the body's muscles begin to atrophy and ALS patients gradually lose all ability to control voluntary muscle movements. The average life expectancy of an ALS patient is two to five years after diagnosis, as patients ultimately lose the ability to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe before finally succumbing to the illness. ALS has no known cure, and despite approximately six thousand Americans being diagnosed with the illness each year, it is extremely difficult to make significant advances in research since patients diagnosed with the illness die so quickly.
Despite being diagnosed with this terminal
illness, Mr. Kremer decided to fight back and has teamed with a group of HBS students to create Prize4Life. Prize4Life is a nonprofit founded to accelerate ALS research
by offering substantial cash prizes to scientists who solve the most critical problems that currently prevent the discovery of an effective ALS treatment.
It should be of no surprise that a group of business school students is attempting to harness market forces in the battle against ALS. The MBA ALS Basketball Challenge was created by members of Prize4Life in order
to raise both ALS awareness and donations
that will hopefully be used to reward an ALS treatment discovery. Prize4Life's drive and determination was well reflected by the inspired play of all eight MBA teams competing at the non-profit's first charity basketball event.
Wharton 1 kicked off the tournament's round-robin action at Shad Hall with a 68-63 victory over Tuck in what proved to be a very physical contest. Matt McConkie (WG '07) and Brendan Dillon (WG '08) led Wharton 1's scoring effort, while Erik Miller (WG '08), Chris Hill (WG '08), and Hans Hartvickson (WG '08) pounded the boards to give Wharton 1 a significant edge in the paint.
Wharton 1 faced Harvard's 1st year team in its second contest with a berth in the tournament semi-finals on the line. Wharton
1 received solid three-point shooting efforts from Mark Egan (WG '07), Fred Ronnau (WG '08), and Matt Knipp (WG '07), but came up six points short in a 67-61 loss.
Despite its previous setback, Wharton 1 rallied to handily win their third and final round-robin contest against Yale by a score of 75-34. A balanced Wharton 1 scoring attack was highlighted by the activation of Wharton Basketball club president, Jude Tuma (WG '07), from the team's injured reserve. Tuma was able to run the floor in Wharton 1's second victory of the day, while Dillon continued to drop three-pointers and McConkie scored at will in the paint. The win over Yale qualified Wharton 1 for the tournament semi-finals, which were to be held later in the evening at Harvard's Briggs Athletic Center.
Meanwhile, Wharton 2 got off to a strong start behind the red-hot three-point shooting of Carlos Schmidt (WG '07) in its opening contest against Columbia. Andy Cohen (WG '08) added multiple baskets off of his fearless dribble-drive penetration
and Matt Flynn (WG '07) provided additional scoring as Wharton 2 took a two point lead into the final thirty seconds. However, Columbia was able to convert an old fashioned three point play, sinking
a decisive free throw with one second remaining in the game to give Columbia a 40-39 victory.
Still dazed after its gut-wrenching loss, Wharton 2 fell behind early against Stern in its second contest of the day. However, Wharton 2 staged a ferocious second half rally to pull within single digits in a game that was led by strong low post efforts from T.R. Newcomb (WG '08), Blake Sonnek-Sanchez (WG '08), and Vladimir Spasov (WG '07). Ultimately, Wharton 2 couldn't close the gap and dropped the contest to Stern by a score of 52-40.
Wharton 2 concluded the day's round-robin action with a loss to Harvard's second year team, thus eliminating any opportunity
to advance to the semi-finals with their Wharton 1 brethren. Harvard's second year squad provided a serious match-up problem
as it fielded former Duke University forward Matt Christensen (HBS '07). Alex Valle (WG '08) and Josh Shedroff (WG '08) provided some accurate outside shooting,
but the 6-foot-10 Christensen and his teammates were too much for Wharton 2 to handle in the losing effort.
As the day turned into night, the events moved from Shad Hall to the Briggs Center as a few hundred spectators arrived to see an entertaining night of basketball that included numerous contests, a "Private-Equity
All-Star Game", and the tournament's semi-final and championship games.
Wharton 1 opened the semi-final action against Harvard's second years with an early lead. Unfortunately, Wharton 1 ran into a cold stretch of shooting from the field and ultimately dropped the contest by a score of 60-50. Harvard's second years moved on to the championship game in which they defeated their first year counterparts
by a margin of 67-59.
The Wharton Basketball Club may not have played its best basketball of the year, but it certainly played an honorable role in helping a truly great cause.
Additional information about Prize4Life and ALS can be found at www.prize4life.org.
field included teams from Wharton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Tuck, and Stern. The underlying purpose of the day's events was to bring together MBA students to "compete in basketball, compete for prizes, compete for donations but most importantly
compete for life."
Despite strong efforts, Wharton 1 lost in the tournament's semi-finals and Wharton 2 wasn't able to advance beyond the tournament's round-robin stage. Ultimately, Harvard managed to advance two teams to the championship game, in which their second year team was victorious.
The MBA ALS Basketball Challenge was inspired by a Harvard Business School student's fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease. Avichai Kremer arrived at HBS in 2004 after serving as a platoon commander in the Israeli military and subsequently as a manager for an Israeli defense-electronics company. However, only a few months into his first year at HBS, Mr. Kremer was diagnosed with ALS.
ALS destroys the brain's ability to control
the body's muscles and ultimately leaves its victims in a state of paralysis, relentlessly attacking motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. As these neurons die, the body's muscles begin to atrophy and ALS patients gradually lose all ability to control voluntary muscle movements. The average life expectancy of an ALS patient is two to five years after diagnosis, as patients ultimately lose the ability to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe before finally succumbing to the illness. ALS has no known cure, and despite approximately six thousand Americans being diagnosed with the illness each year, it is extremely difficult to make significant advances in research since patients diagnosed with the illness die so quickly.
Despite being diagnosed with this terminal
illness, Mr. Kremer decided to fight back and has teamed with a group of HBS students to create Prize4Life. Prize4Life is a nonprofit founded to accelerate ALS research
by offering substantial cash prizes to scientists who solve the most critical problems that currently prevent the discovery of an effective ALS treatment.
It should be of no surprise that a group of business school students is attempting to harness market forces in the battle against ALS. The MBA ALS Basketball Challenge was created by members of Prize4Life in order
to raise both ALS awareness and donations
that will hopefully be used to reward an ALS treatment discovery. Prize4Life's drive and determination was well reflected by the inspired play of all eight MBA teams competing at the non-profit's first charity basketball event.
Wharton 1 kicked off the tournament's round-robin action at Shad Hall with a 68-63 victory over Tuck in what proved to be a very physical contest. Matt McConkie (WG '07) and Brendan Dillon (WG '08) led Wharton 1's scoring effort, while Erik Miller (WG '08), Chris Hill (WG '08), and Hans Hartvickson (WG '08) pounded the boards to give Wharton 1 a significant edge in the paint.
Wharton 1 faced Harvard's 1st year team in its second contest with a berth in the tournament semi-finals on the line. Wharton
1 received solid three-point shooting efforts from Mark Egan (WG '07), Fred Ronnau (WG '08), and Matt Knipp (WG '07), but came up six points short in a 67-61 loss.
Despite its previous setback, Wharton 1 rallied to handily win their third and final round-robin contest against Yale by a score of 75-34. A balanced Wharton 1 scoring attack was highlighted by the activation of Wharton Basketball club president, Jude Tuma (WG '07), from the team's injured reserve. Tuma was able to run the floor in Wharton 1's second victory of the day, while Dillon continued to drop three-pointers and McConkie scored at will in the paint. The win over Yale qualified Wharton 1 for the tournament semi-finals, which were to be held later in the evening at Harvard's Briggs Athletic Center.
Meanwhile, Wharton 2 got off to a strong start behind the red-hot three-point shooting of Carlos Schmidt (WG '07) in its opening contest against Columbia. Andy Cohen (WG '08) added multiple baskets off of his fearless dribble-drive penetration
and Matt Flynn (WG '07) provided additional scoring as Wharton 2 took a two point lead into the final thirty seconds. However, Columbia was able to convert an old fashioned three point play, sinking
a decisive free throw with one second remaining in the game to give Columbia a 40-39 victory.
Still dazed after its gut-wrenching loss, Wharton 2 fell behind early against Stern in its second contest of the day. However, Wharton 2 staged a ferocious second half rally to pull within single digits in a game that was led by strong low post efforts from T.R. Newcomb (WG '08), Blake Sonnek-Sanchez (WG '08), and Vladimir Spasov (WG '07). Ultimately, Wharton 2 couldn't close the gap and dropped the contest to Stern by a score of 52-40.
Wharton 2 concluded the day's round-robin action with a loss to Harvard's second year team, thus eliminating any opportunity
to advance to the semi-finals with their Wharton 1 brethren. Harvard's second year squad provided a serious match-up problem
as it fielded former Duke University forward Matt Christensen (HBS '07). Alex Valle (WG '08) and Josh Shedroff (WG '08) provided some accurate outside shooting,
but the 6-foot-10 Christensen and his teammates were too much for Wharton 2 to handle in the losing effort.
As the day turned into night, the events moved from Shad Hall to the Briggs Center as a few hundred spectators arrived to see an entertaining night of basketball that included numerous contests, a "Private-Equity
All-Star Game", and the tournament's semi-final and championship games.
Wharton 1 opened the semi-final action against Harvard's second years with an early lead. Unfortunately, Wharton 1 ran into a cold stretch of shooting from the field and ultimately dropped the contest by a score of 60-50. Harvard's second years moved on to the championship game in which they defeated their first year counterparts
by a margin of 67-59.
The Wharton Basketball Club may not have played its best basketball of the year, but it certainly played an honorable role in helping a truly great cause.
Additional information about Prize4Life and ALS can be found at www.prize4life.org.
Be the first to comment on this story