CU's MacIntyre Presented With Carew Leadership Award
March 17, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — For the last nine years, Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre has made the Be the Match Registry a foundational piece of his football teams' community service projects.
Be the Match helps pair bone marrow and stem cell donors with patients who have been stricken with blood cancer and are in need of transplants to save their lives.
In his nine years of involving his teams with Be the Match, MacIntyre's players have  been responsible for creating 1,600 entrants in the Be the Match database, and those have resulted in eight matches that have saved lives.
Saturday morning, MacIntyre was honored with the Rod Carew Leadership Award, named in honor of the Hall of Fame baseball player who has been actively involved in the Be the Match efforts ever since his daughter was stricken with a deadly form of leukemia and could not find a bone marrow match in time to save her life.
MacIntyre was presented with the honor at the team's annual Spring Game awards breakfast. The team's annual spring award winners were also named at the breakfast (a complete list is included below).
MacIntyre began involving his team with Be the Match when he became the head coach at San Jose State. When he came to Colorado in 2013, he continued to involve his team, and each year the number of potential matches, donors — and live savers — continues to grow.
"You have done unbelievable things" MacIntyre told the Buffs. "You don't realize what you have done. You have affected eight lives. Our numbers of matching are off the charts. … You have also inspired four other universities to do it."
Indeed, Colorado's success in the program has inspired Michigan State, Mississippi State and Northwestern to begin participating in the program.
Be the Match CEO Randy Mills was on hand Saturday to present the Carew Award to MacIntyre.
"We're here to honor what he has done," Mills said. "Your coach has entered 1,600 people through our registry — and those 1,600 people have gone on to save eight lives. That's an incredible conversion rate."
Carew congratulated MacIntyre via a video.
"My youngest daughter Michelle died of leukemia when she was 18 years old," Carew said. "I got involved in Be the Match to help other young kids grow up and realize their dreams. Coach MacIntyre, I'm so happy that you've taken it upon yourself along with your football players to do some work in the community to help these youngsters grow up and realize their dreams. It comes from the heart. I know that's where it's coming from you — from the heart. I know you do care. I congratulate you on the award and keep doing the work that you're doing."
Also speaking to the players on Saturday was Aurora attorney Michael Stewart, who received a life-saving bone marrow transplant with the assistance of Be the Match two years ago.
"A lot of times you hear people say 'One person can't make a difference,'" Stewart said. "(But) Coach MacIntyre is one person — one person who led to eight lives that have been saved. This is incredibly important. You have that ability to rescue someone. I challenge you not to stand idle. I challenge you to get involved. Be that person who's going to make a difference and save somebody's life."
MacIntyre noted that a football team's diversity offers great potential in the bone marrow registry and matching process.
"The reason we do it on football teams and the reason it reaches out is because football teams are diverse," MacIntyre said. "It's one of the things that makes us really special. We come from all different walks of life, all different environments and all different colors of skin — and it doesn't matter. It's all about your heart."
SPRING AWARDS: CU coaches handed out their annual spring awards Saturday. The winners:
Eddie Crowder Award (Outstanding Leadership): ILB Rick Gamboa and OT Josh Kaiser
Fred Casotti Award (Most Improved Offensive Back, QB and RB) TB Alex Fontenot
Dan Stavely Award (Most Improved Offensive Receiver, WR and TE): WR Laviska Shenault Jr.
Joe Romig Award (Most Improved Offensive Lineman): OT Aaron Haigler and OG Brett Tonz
Hale Irwin Award (Most Improved Defensive Back): CB Chris Miller
Greg Biekert Award (Most Improved Linebacker): ILB Akil Jones
Ron Scott Award (Most Improved Defensive Lineman): DE Chris Mulumba
Bill McCartney Award (Most Improved Special Teams Player): SN J.T. Bale
John Wooten Award (Outstanding Work Ethic): OL Colby Pursell
Dick Anderson Award (Outstanding Toughness): ILB Nate Landman
Jim Hansen Award (Outstanding Academics): DL Jase Franke
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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