Blowing the whistle on cancer
By Jerry W. Kram
For a dozen years, basketball referees from the Williston Basin Basketball Officials Association pull out pink whistles for a week to call a foul on breast cancer.
Troy Walters, Dennis Gores and Chas Neff officiated games in New Town and Parshall last week and set aside half their official’s fees for Relay For Life of Williston. They invited the assembled basketball fans to donate as well.
“Every site we go to for the whole week we bring canisters,” Walters said. “We give the canisters to the athletic directors and they go through the stands to collect money. People have been very generous across the northwest region.”
Usually the program runs the last week of January. This year it ran January 18-25. Walters said in the past donations always surpassed $3,000 and have reached $10,000 more than once.
