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Winter 2015 : Coaching greats leave it all on the stage

Coaching greats leave it all on the stage

Luncheon raises record-breaking funds for the Moon Shots Program

BY Miriam Spradling

R.C. Slocum and Mack Brown display their teams' traditional hand signs. Photo by Jonathan Alonzo.

The fifth annual A Conversation With a Living Legend^® in San Antonio honored two of the greatest coaches in Texas football history, Mack Brown and R.C. Slocum. Tom Johnson, the former president of CNN News Group and a member of the MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors, interviewed the dual legends. The riveting conversation touched on gridiron triumphs as well as issues such as concussion safety, the tragic collapse of the 1999 Texas A&M University Aggie Bonfire and the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, where Brown lost his all-star quarterback on The University of Texas Longhorns’ first drive.

Generous corporate sponsors and more than 760 guests helped the Nov. 10 event raise a record-breaking $430,000 for MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program, a comprehensive effort to accelerate the fight against cancer.

Sonya Williams, a member of the MD Anderson Advance Team advisory board, and her husband, Gene, served as event chairs for the first time this year, leading a host committee of 85 San Antonio-area business and community leaders. Peggy and Lowry Mays and Charline and Red McCombs served as honorary chairs. Kim and Clyde Johnson IV and Paula and Clyde Johnson III are the event’s founding chairs. Presenting sponsor Valero Energy Corporation contributed $35,000 to the event. Sponsors at the touchdown level included HOLT CAT and Spurs Sports and Entertainment, Lewis Energy Group, the Mays Family Foundation and the McCombs Foundation.

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