Durango High cheerleaders perform during a timeout on Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness night Friday.
Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Nike provided team members with pink shoelaces.
Mark Jimenez, with daughters, from left, Emily, 3, Emma, 3, Amy, 8 months, and Hannah, 4, get in the spirit.
Durango High juniors Colby Laub, 16, and Danny Reynolds, 17, cheer their team.
Players on both teams wore pink warmup shirts.
A few minutes before they attempted to climb Everest, or at least become the first Nevada girls’ basketball team to upset Bishop Gorman, which is more or less the same thing, a two-word message scrawled on the dry-erase board in their locker room reminded the Durango High Trailblazers of what truly is important.
It didn’t say “Beat Gorman.”
Or “Good Luck.”
Or “How do we notify next of kin?” (Besides, that’s seven words.)
It simply said “Think Pink.”
Friday night was the tipoff of “Think Pink 2008,” a program sponsored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to increase awareness of breast cancer. Last year 120 women’s basketball and other programs participated in the inaugural Think Pink Week; this year, according to the WBCA Web site, more than 900 signed up.
In lieu of their warm-up tops, the Durango and Bishop Gorman players wore pink T-shirts. They also wore pink shoelaces, courtesy of Nike. The coaches also donned pink shirts — John Bartleson, the Durango coach, made a fashion statement by not tucking in the shirttail of his baggy polo; Sheryl Krmpotich, the Bishop Gorman coach, made a bigger fashion statement by showing up in a pink top that was a perfect fit.
Game officials and parents of the players also wore pink, as did many fans, including Stephanie Juarez, a Durango student who limped to her seat in the bleachers, her lower leg and foot encased in a bright pink cast. No, Pink did not sing the national anthem. The Durango High choir did, and it sounded wonderful.
As for the game, well, in keeping with the theme of the evening, Durango's little pink houses proved to be no match for Bishop Gorman's big pink skyscrapers under the basket. Gorman won, 76-43. Afterward, Al La Rocque flashed an easy smile. The Durango High coaching icon organized Think Pink Night with his wife, Beverly, and huge assists from Jodie Diamant — her daughter, Dannielle, is one of the Gorman skyscrapers — and Krmpotich.
Players from both teams went into the bleachers at halftime of the boys’ game and collected $935 for breast cancer research, which, at least on this night, seemed a lot more important than the final score.
“Sometimes we need to be reminded that there are things in life that are bigger than a basketball game,” Al La Rocque said. “This is one of them.”
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