Approximately 195 runners participated Sunday in the third annual Don Scott Memorial Foundation 5K Run, which raises funds for colon cancer awareness research in memory of the late Manhasset science teacher and track coach.
The foundation’s president, Don Scott Jr., said he expected more runners to participate in the event, but rain early Sunday morning likely deterred those who planned to register for the event just before the race began.
“We didn’t get as many day-of sign-ups as we thought we would, but we were pleased with the number we did get,” Scott said.
The run, the foundation’s primary fundraising effort, began at the Mary Jane Davies Green near the Manhasset Long Island Railroad station and cut through the heart of town, traveling through parts of the villages of Plandome, Plandome Heights and Flower Hill.
Since its inception shortly after Donald Scott Sr. died of colon cancer in 2010, the organization has worked with organizations throughout the Manhasset community to raise money and awareness for colon cancer research.
“There’s a bit of a stigmatism with colon cancer,” Don Jr. said in a phone interview with Blank Slate Media. “People feel uncomfortable with it and aren’t comfortable talking about it. There are a lot of jokes that come with having a colonoscopy. But at the end of the day, it’s a pretty silly thing to not get screened and lose your life over it. If you get screened, you’ll see if you have it or if you don’t or if you have something growing. There’s no gray area there.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, colon cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the United States of cancers that affect both men and women. In 2009, the last year for which CDC statistics are available, 51,848 people in the United States died from colon cancer.
Scott coached at Manhasset for 42 years and his teams won 29 county championships, six state championships and produced 27 All-State and 12 All-American athletes, according to the foundation’s Web site. His 1,295 career wins in 1,376 meets makes him the second winningest public high school boys track coach in state history.
But on Nov. 4, 2010, shortly after securing his 500th varsity boys cross country win Oct. 21, Scott lost a brief battle to colon cancer.
The disease, Don Jr. said, was caught late, as his father hadn’t been screened for the illness. When doctors discovered the cancer, Don Jr. said, “it was pretty much over.”
“If you get screened, you’re not going to get cancer, or you’ll pick it up in the early stage and have it removed,” Don Jr. said. “He didn’t get screened at the suggested age, so it’s more driving the awareness of preventing this from happening to someone else.”
Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Tennessee in 1963, six credits shy of earning a doctorate. After graduation, he briefly taught undergraduate courses while working for the federal government at Edgewater Arsenal in Maryland in developing dangerous germs for use in the Cold War.
When his laboratory at Edgewater closed as a result of a treaty signed between the Americans and Russians, Scott began teaching chemistry and coaching cross country, indoor track, and track and field at Strattford High School in Fredricksburg, Va.
In 1968, Scott guided the school’s track and field program to its first Virginia state championship, and moved to New York to marry his wife, Barbara, and begin teaching at Manhasset High School, where he spent the rest of his career.
“I met so many of the people who he impacted, people he helped get into college who didn’t necessarily have college in their plans,” said Scott’s nephew Marc Salerno, a member of the foundation’s board of directors. “He was a big proponent of keeping people involved in track and in the community.”
Don Jr. said that while his father was sick, his former runners would visit him in the hospital, in overwhelming numbers, to show their support and admiration.
“He was known for nurturing and really taking care of his kids,” Don Jr. said. “Back in the day, he would buy shoes for his track kids who maybe couldn’t afford shoes, things like that. He’d pick them up and make sure they got to practice. He kept an eye out for the kids who could stray. He was really hands-on, guiding his kids. He considered them all his children, in a way.”
Shortly thereafter, the foundation was formed, which Don Jr. co-chairs with his mother. The 5K race, he said, “seemed natural, considering he was the track coach.”
The foundation also holds a dinner during Colon Cancer Month in March at the Plandome Country Club as a means of further raising awareness for the disease, and it also partnered with Manhasset High School students for a toy drive at North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Cohen’s Children’s Hospital last year during the holiday season and a bowling night, which also raised funds.
The foundation has also created a scholarship in Scott’s honor, awarded to a graduating Manhasset senior on the cross country or track and field teams who displays dedication, leadership, passion and responsibility within the school’s community, while also planning to pursue athletics at the collegiate level.
“We created the foundation to carry on the goodness that he’s done to support kids at the high school who would be in need, whatever the situation,” Don Jr. said. “He helped so many people, so we really wanted to continue that spirit as well as bring about awareness to colon cancer.”
