Lehigh Football Nation

Too often, we define football players by statistics. As sports obsessives, we try to come up with figures and metrics to measure people, their contributions and their relative worth.  QB rating, yards per carry, tackles for loss - all numbers of measurement. Fans forget that there are human beings behind all of those numbers.  They don't encapsulate what it is to be a football player, teammate, person, fighter, boyfriend, husband, and father. Brett Snyder , who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 41, spent his entire life proving, successfully, that numbers don't matter.  He spent a lifetime going beyond mere numbers and showing that heart, fight, perseverance, and touching as many lives as possible in a positive way is much more important. It is the toughness you bring to life, the faith you show, and celebrating life's blessings that mean everything.  I learned this through Brett's extraordinary life.

Brett Snyder '00, forever and always a Lehigh football alumnus, recently appeared in the Morning Call detailing his fight against ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Keith Groller of the Morning Call has done a fantastic job bringing information about Brett Snyder's foundation, Tackle ALS . Keith has done so through his articles, of course, but has also talked about Brett in his blog as well. Last weekend, Brett held an Tackle ALS fundraiser in Starters Riverport in Bethlehem, where Brett presented a $15,000 check to another ALS foundation called ALS Hope: "The money we're donating is going to help the clinic that Dr. Heiman-Patterson runs at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown and also will go to her research and drug trials," Snyder said. "The pharmaceutical companies come to her, and she conducts her own research. We want to help people and increase awareness about ALS." "It's all dedicated to making a difference for peopl...

Only one thing could possibly cause me to delay the release of my 30-year anniversary team: it was the need to promote something important. (So important, I might add, that I'm kicking myself that I didn't report on this earlier.) This Saturday (as reported in the Morning Call and on Keith Groller's Morning Call blog ) will be the annual flag football ALS fundraiser at Northwestern Lehigh. In years past it has been to help out Brett Snyder ('00) after being diagnosed with ALS (or Lou Gerhig's disease) two years ago. But this year, all proceeds are going to Brett's new foundation Tackle ALS . His foundation "''educates and encourages others to spread awareness about this disease that affects all ages, and to support research aimed at early diagnosis and detection of ALS.'' The event this Saturday, July 28th (rain date is Sunday, July 29th) is at the Northwestern Lehigh football field (off of Route 309). From Interstate 78, take Route 10...

Not much news so far from Lehigh football's spring practice (maybe there will be more news next week), but I'd like to take this time to alert you about a Frontline Documentary (airing tonight on PBS, and also available soon for viewing over the internet) concerning Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS for short. I haven't pre-screened it, but judging from the press release it looks like something that deserves the attention of anyone who has been affected by the disease one way or another. It talks about new gene therapies, ways of delivering new FDA-approved drugs to patients, and talks about the ALS Therapy Development Foundation that Jamie Heywood, whose brother has ALS, founded in 2000. Why mention this documentary, or ALS in general? Because the cause of ALS research and finding a cure has been a cause near and dear to the Lehigh football family's heart ever since Brett Snyder ('00) was diagnosed with the disease several years ago. Together with ALSA and the...