UCLA's Eighth Annual 'Dribble for the Cure' is Sunday

The eighth annual ‘Dribble for the Cure , an event that raises money and awareness in the battle against pediatric cancer, will once again be held on the UCLA campus on Sunday October 11.

Cori Close’s UCLA women’s basketball team and Steve Alford’s men’s basketball team and the UCLA Athletic Department will join forces with Bruins men’s Hall of Fame basketball player John Vallely, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and the Cancer Research Program at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA for the 2015 ‘Dribble for the Cure.’

The event will start at 8:30 a.m. with registration at Drake Stadium and it will conclude at Collins court inside the John Wooden Center. After a welcome ceremony, ‘Dribble for the Cure’ will begin and each participant will bring a basketball (or buy one site) for the 1.2 mile dribble course around the UCLA campus.

At 11:15 a.m. finish line festivities will give participants a unique opportunity to meet the UCLA men’s and women’s basketball players and take pictures and get their autographs. Bruin student athletes from other sports will be there too.

Last year the event raised over $177,500. Last year over 550 participants took part in this event. “’Dribble for the Cure has become the signature event for patients and families of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at UCLA and we look forward to it with great anticipation every year,” said Dr. Theodore B. Moore, Chief of Pediatric Hematology Oncology at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.

For many years , John Vallely and his family have been on the front lines in the battle against cancer. A starting guard on John Wooden’s UCLA 1969 and 1970 NCAA Championship basketball teams, he was also inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2002 he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is a two-time stem cell bone marrow transplant survivor. In 1991 John and Karen Vallely lost their daughter Erin to cancer at the age of 12.

For more ‘Dribble for Cure’ information and to register, please go to http://www.dribblefor the cure.com or call 800 354-7273