I hope everybody has enjoyed this crisp autumn weekend. I am writing this blog on Sunday, the day after the 25th Lombardi Gala– our silver anniversary! It was a wonderful evening, with about 950 attendees. Harriet and I had the pleasure of sitting with Vince and Janet Papale. Vince, a colon cancer survivor, was the subject of the 2006 film, “Invincible”; he was the oldest rookie in NFL history when he made the Philadelphia Eagles following an open tryout. Though the movie has massive factual inaccuracies – Vince calls it the difference between “real” and “reel” – his true story is nonetheless inspiring.
Vince was the recipient of a Courage Award at a previous Lombardi Gala (before I got here, so the Philly connection precedes me), and accepted our invitation for this year’s event, where he and his wife sat next to another Vince– Vince Lombardi, Jr., grandson of the coach and his wife, Sally Sue. We had a great time with all of them.
The Gala appears to have been a great success, though we still await the final tally. Funds from the Gala support many of our initiatives, so it is great to see that it remains so vibrant. Kudos to Elena Jeanotte and her team in Advancement for doing such a masterful job in organizing the event.
Last week my week was dominated by a site visit of a NCI intramural program. It is quite clear that the budgetary pain suffered by the extramural community is being shared within the intramural program.
Friday we had a Lombardi Town Hall meeting, where we had a packed schedule of administrative and scientific updates. For those who missed it, the slides from the meeting can be found on the Lombardi Intranet. I was a bit disappointed by the low turnout, however. We go to great lengths to make Town Halls informative and useful. Perhaps the lesson here is that Friday afternoons are not optimal for these activities. If there are other reasons, please let us know.
Have a great week.