He’s Got That Fighting Spirit

Colgate University tried to make its game against Marist on Saturday basketball-as-usual, because that’s how Coach Jack Bruen wanted it.

No way was that possible, of course, not with the steady flow of friends and former players who had come so far for what they feared might be the last time they would see him.

Bruen, 48, was told less than two months ago he has pancreatic cancer and it already had spread to his liver. He knows that about 50% of such patients die within six weeks of the diagnosis and that few make it more than six months.

He has fought through heavy doses of chemotherapy--and the medication necessary to try to help counter its debilitating side effects.

And when Bruen was unable to make the trip to his native New York for the Red Raider game against St. John’s last week, alarms went off in places where he is known.

“I’ve had some great assistants” who went on to become successful college coaches, said DeMatha High Coach Morgan Wootten. Bruen has counseled thousands of youngsters for 25 years at summer camps held by the legendary Hyattsville, Md., coach. “(South Carolina’s) Eddie Fogler, (Tulane’s) Perry Clark and (Delaware’s) Mike Brey. None is any better than Jack. He’s as good as they come.”

Bruen’s ability to organize and teach was on display once again Saturday as Colgate rushed to a 13-5 lead and avenged an earlier loss to Marist, 80-69. Guard Seth Schaeffer ran around pick after pick, freed himself for eight three-point attempts and hit five. Colgate once ran an inbounds play from underneath Marist’s basket that ended with a layup by guard Chester Felts.

Neither team captain Schaeffer nor the other players would admit to any extra effort. “We never go so far as to say we’re going to win this one for coach,” Schaeffer said, “because we’ve won every game for the last four years for him.”

Bruen was upbeat after the game. He intends to go on the road again because “some adjustments” to his medication seem hopeful. Wootten and Brey spent most of Thursday here--and during a soup-and-stories lunch at the kitchen table of Bruen’s gray, two-story home on Maple Street, they talked about getting together when Colgate plays Navy in Annapolis in about a month.

After practice that night, with Wootten and Brey long gone and the gym nearly empty, Bruen was not so confident.

“The fact that the cure rate is real, real low doesn’t lend itself to much optimism,” he admitted. “I’ve already dealt with some things. It’s just a question now of whether I can finish the season. I don’t know. If I stay with what I’m doing now, I think I probably could.”

That means resting whenever possible. He makes practice plans while in bed, his feet elevated above his heart to cope with swelling in his legs and ankles, and dictates them to assistant coach Paul Aiello over the phone. He walks slowly, sits through nearly all practices and speaks so softly players have difficulty hearing him.

During practice, Bruen usually is very active and frequently loud. So when he mustered the energy to yell at a player Friday, the team actually was invigorated. “Tremendous,” Schaeffer said. “I’ve never been happier to hear that.”

The unnerving moments before practice, junior forward Chad Wiswall said, are waiting to see whether Bruen will be able to attend.

Bruen has earned uncommon loyalty and affection, in part, because his people skills are extraordinary. Several of the players on the first team he coached at Catholic University, in 1982, were at the Marist game. So were some of the players on the first team he coached at Colgate, in 1990.