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PGA CHAMPION TOM WATSON TO
HOST BOB PACKARD CUP The Robert Packard Foundation for ALS Research in San Francisco, California, and The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, announced today that golf legend Tom Watson will host the Bob Packard Cup, a new tournament to raise funds for ALS research at Hopkins. The Bob Packard Cup will be played on November 3, 2003 at the Stanford University golf course. Joining Watson as co-host is longtime friend Frank "Sandy" Tatum, Jr., an NCAA national champion in golf from Stanford in the 1930s and former president of the United States Golf Association. Watson, Tatum, and organizers anticipate that the tournament will raise at least $1 million to accelerate the development of effective therapies and ultimately a cure for ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a progressive neuromuscular disease that causes death within two to five years of diagnosis. It affects as many as 30,000 men and women in the United States, with 5,000 new cases diagnosed each year. In addition to Gehrig, the disease has ended the lives of such notables as Catfish Hunter, Senator Jacob Javits, Michael Zaslow and David Niven.
"I am committed to helping Bruce and others fight this devastating disease," Watson continues. "The Packard Center is on the leading edge of discovering how ALS occurs, and the scientists are dedicated to translating their basic research into real therapy for today's patients. The strength of The Packard Center lies not only in engaging the very best researchers but also in demanding aggressive collaboration and productivity." "Tom Watson is a champion on and off the golf course, and we are thrilled that he is helping in our battle to find a cure for this terrible disease," states Ken Hagen, a Board member of The Robert Packard Foundation. In 2002, the Foundation completed a $5 million pledge to The Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins--the only institution of its kind dedicated solely to curing the disease. Although the Center is based at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, its scope is international, with more than 30 leading scientists from Hopkins, other universities, and biotech companies worldwide now collaborating through the Center.
Both the Center and the Foundation bear the name of Robert Packard, a prominent San Francisco investment banker who was diagnosed with ALS in late 1999. He died of the disease less than a year later at the age of 42. For more information about the Bob Packard Cup, including sponsorship
and volunteer opportunities, please contact Kathy Davis at The Robert
Packard Center for ALS Research at 410-502-7677 or visit www.alscenter.org
or www.packardfoundation.org. |
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