I have had been around many championship teams in my 38 year career of sports broadcasting. I left the New Berlin Ale House in New Berlin Friday night fully understanding that I had just witnessed what true champions really are.
UW-Whitewater alumnus and former Warhawk linebacker Art Gutierrez is involved in the greatest battle of his life – a battle against stage-four colo-rectal cancer.
Family, friends, and former UW-Whitewater football teammates – the Cure 54 Foundation – exhibited what the word “team” is all about by staging the Cure 54 raffle-auction Friday night in New Berlin.
A full-house turned out in support of Gutierrez at the New Berlin Ale House for the fundraising event.
A group of Art’s former UW-Whitewater football teammates took the motto “once a Warhawk-Always a Warhawk” to heart by forming the Cure 54 Foundation in support of Gutierrez’s second battle within a year with cancer.
Active bidding throughout the evening spearheaded by one of the top auctioneers in southern Wisconsin - Bob Johnson of Badger State Auction of Milton – resulted in thousands of dollars raised.
Money raised from the C.U.R.E. 54 fundraiser will allow Art to be able to pay some existing medical bills, as well as seek treatment, at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
“I wish it was under different circumstances but it was great seeing everyone last night,” Gutierrez indicated on his Facebook page Saturday morning. “Thank you all it means more than you'll know. If I didn't get to say good bye I'm sorry be good everyone thank you again.”
Just hours after the fundraiser, Gutierrez was on a plane back down to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to begin a unique form of radiation that isn't offered in the Midwest. It is a trip made possible by Cure 54’s fundraising effort.
“Thanks to everyone that came out last night” the Cure 54 Foundation indicated Saturday morning on its Facebook page. “For those of you that couldn't make it to the event, but made a donation, and to those that donated items for the event. We couldn't have done it without you!!! Thank you!”
And thank you to Art’s former UW-Whitewater football teammates for truly proving what once a Warhawk-Always a Warhawk is all about. It is what the word CHAMPION truely means.
I’ll have more on the story on Monday.
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