San Diego SportsA Night of Hope
Chargers Battle Huntington’s Disease When San Diego Chargers (2-2) Head Coach Norv Turner speaks of battle as being “personal,” one may assume he is addressing the media regarding tonight’s Monday Night match up between the Chargers and the Denver Broncos (5-0). Although tonight’s game is critical, off the field the Chargers have come together to engage in an even more important battle against Huntington’s Disease (HD). On Saturday, October 17 the San Diego Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) held their annual gala event at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. The title and theme of the event was "In the Huddle: A night of football ad-libs and anecdotes." This event gave NFL fans a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with some the leagues’ most well known personalities, including San Diego Chargers Norv Turner, Philip Rivers, and Shawne Merriman as well as ESPN’s voices for NFL football Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden, Michele Tafoya, and Suzy Kolber. These celebrities spoke, showed videos, and fielded questions from the audience. In addition, Don Coryell was a guest of honor in celebration of his 80th birthday.
 Don Coryell with Bill and Ramona Johnston Photo by Jennifer Pearsall Monetarily and emotionally, this gala was a complete success. Over 500 guests contributed $300per seat to attend and many also participated by generously bidding in a variety of auction opportunities. All of this raised several thousands of dollars for HD research and patient care. More importantly the celebratory attitude of the event created an air of hope for those that shoulder the heavy burden of living with or caring for a family member stricken by HD. According to the HDSA, “Huntington’s Disease is a devastating genetic brain disorder that causes brain cells to die and systematically robs people of their ability to walk, talk, eat, and think. Eventually, a person with HD becomes totally dependent upon others for his or her care. HD has full penetrance, meaning that they (a victim) will definitely become ill. The final result for everybody with HD is death. There is no effective treatment or cure.” Among the victims of HD is Ramona Johnston. She is the wife of Bill Johnston who is the public relations director for the San Diego Chargers. Dean Spanos, the Chargers President and CEO, considers the Johnstons to be like family members and was deeply touched by the tremendous turnout. Spanos remarked, “It’s really special. I remember when Bill Johnston’s wife was stricken with Huntington’s and he came to me. That was a really difficult situation for him. It hit his family hard, he did not know what it was and he didn’t know how to handle it.” , the Chargers President and CEO, considers the Johnstons to be like family members and was deeply touched by the tremendous turnout. Spanos remarked, “It’s really special. I remember when Bill Johnston’s wife was stricken with Huntington’s and he came to me. That was a really difficult situation for him. It hit his family hard, he did not know what it was and he didn’t know how to handle it.” Spanos continued, “I remember [Johnston] saying to me, ‘I don’t know what I am going to do, but have to do something. I cannot not do anything.’” Johnston became involved in raising funds and awareness for HD at both local and national levels. Commenting on the crowd attending the event Spanos said, “When I see this tonight, with all these people here, it is because of Bill Johnston. He really made this happen.” Mike Tirico hosted the evening and he did a superb job setting the tone by creating a fun yet personable occasion that was full of laughter while still being poignant for the cause at hand. Tirico started the evening by wishing Coryell a happy 80th birthday and the extremely pro-Chargers crowd considered it a great honor to sing happy birthday to the legendary coach who, according to Spanos, “is one of the magical characters over the 50 years of the Chargers franchise.” Other highlights of the gala included a sneak peak at tonight’s Monday Night Football opening montage, a live auction, and the audience getting an opportunity to ask questions to the NFL celebrities. Philip Rivers kept the auction entertaining by purchasing a signed and framed Peyton Manning jersey for $2,100. Prior to the auction Rivers spoke about his teammates’ involvement in the event. “I think it is important. We are in the spotlight so much and we get so much attention ourselves because of playing a game. We get such great fan support. Anything we can do to help in the community, especially to support a great cause such as this, is really small on our part. A couple hours of our time could potentially have a great impact.”
 Norv Turner and Mike Tirico Photo by Jennifer Pearsall After purchasing the jersey Rivers made a direct donation of $5,000, the largest single contribution of the evening. Antonio Cromartie and Quentin Jammer also contributed $2,500 each. In addition, Rivers made an impromptu donation to the auction of one of his jerseys that he would sign in person at the Chargers complex. Merriman then joined the action by bidding and winning Rivers’ jersey at $2,400. Jaworski acknowledged the players’ generosity. He said, “When we travel around, a lot of people ask us who we root for? The people you end up rooting for are ‘good guys.’ That is why we root for the Chargers.” During the question-and-answer session, fans got a little insight on the state of the Chargers and their chances against Denver. Turner said, “The bye was important to us both physically and mentally.” Merriman seconded Turner’s assessment by commenting that during the bye many of his fellow teammates did not go home and have fun, they stayed in San Diego and came to the facility nearly every day to improve as a team. Regarding tonight’s game, Turner may have tipped his hat that the Chargers will be creative with their offense. When an audience member asked if the Chargers would ever implement the Wild Cat offense, surprisingly Turner hinted that with a healthy LaDainian Tomlinson they might occasionally use the Wild Cat. Regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game, the Chargers are already winners off the field with their involvement with “In the Huddle.” If you would like to attend a similar event in the future or learn more about HD, please contact the San Diego Chapter of the Huntington Disease Society of America by going to their web site: http://www.hdsasandiego.org/.
 Dan McLellan About the author: Dan McLellan is a San Diego native and Charger season ticket holder since 1993. He also has a weekly Charger podcast at www.DanMcLellan.com. More by this author Subscribe to Sports:
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