Charity minded
By advancing to the round of 24 in the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge, UA coach Sean Miller has already won $7,500 for the Ronald McDonald House of Southern Arizona.
While he’s now shooting for $10,000 if he makes the “Sweet 16” — fans can vote on the current round through Feb. 14 via votecoachmiller.com — Miller is also taking part in the Coaches vs Cancer awareness weekend, meaning he and his staff will wear sneakers for both games with clothes to match.
This time, they’ll also wear laces in honor of Lacey Holsworth, the cancer-stricken eight-year-old Michigan State fan whose courage and personality touched college basketball two seasons ago.
It’s “in honor of her and her spirit,” Miller said, “obviously recognizing what took her life but also recognizing her passion for college basketball.”
In the Charity Challenge, each coach is allowed to pick his own beneficiary and Miller chose the Ronald McDonald House because of its mission to help families who travel to Tucson seeking medical treatment for a serious ailment.
“What it does for families in need is just amazing, it really is,” Miller said. “When you get hit with something like that, there’s no playbook, no ‘do this, do that.’ You just do the best you can as a family and to have a place to stay to eat and live. … The Ronald McDonald House becomes their home away from home at maybe the most difficult time of life.”
