Women’s basketball coaches shave heads for good cause

Women’s basketball was able to raise over $1,000 in continued support for its friend and honorary team member Katie Johns.

After a tough loss to Mid-American Conference rival Ball State, some of the assistant coaches shaved their heads to help raise money for Johns and her family. One of the volunteers was Director of Basketball operations Phil Wendland.

“The idea came up in a meeting,” Wendland said. “We were all for it, all willing to do it and we loved the idea.”

In addition to Wendland, assistant coaches Andrew Wodrich, Russ Rose and Shea Mead also joined in and had their heads shaved for the cause.

$1,300 was raised for the five-year-old from Midland who was diagnosed with Pilacytic Astrocytoma last July, after doctors found a large tumor on her brain stem. The money that was raised will be used to support Johns’ family and her battle with cancer.

This all started when the team decided to adopt Johns as a special part of the team. During “Pink Month”, where teams are allowed to wear pink jerseys in support of cancer patients, the team began to wear pink jerseys with “K. Johns” on the back of every players jersey instead of their own names in honor of her.

Ever since, Johns has been at most home games, and at the Ball State game, she was found sitting on the bench with the rest of the team.

“We really appreciate having Katie around,” Wendland said. “She gives us inspiration, she has definitely been through a lot.”

When she’s not at her weekly chemothereapy treatments in Ann Arbor, Johns is usally spending time with the team and can be found talking with the players and making everyone laugh. Her positive attitude and mentality means a lot to the players and coaches.

“She battles, we want our team to battle, she has a championship mentality,” Wendland said. “She really fights hard and we want to have that same attitude going forward.

As the season winds down the team will be begin to prepare for the MAC tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, and there is a chance that Johns will be on the bench with the team again if she can manage the trip.

“It’s up to Katie and her family,” Wendland said, “We definitely would love to have her there, we’ll definitely welcome her and she’ll have a spot on the bench.”

The team will not be able to continue to wear their pink jerseys in honor of Johns during the MAC tournament due to conference rules, but plan to keep them and wear them sometime again next season.