Former Griz Coach Swarthout Battling Lymphoma Cancer
8/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Former University of Montana football coach Jack Swarthout is battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and a number of his former players are seeking to add to his support. This month the web site CaringCoaches.org is focusing on Swarthout and his need to seek alternative cures and treatments.
The web site is attempting to raise support to provide radioimmunotherapy for Swarthout. Radioimmunotherapy is an experimental treatment that was approved by the FDA in 2002 and is the first radioimmunotherapy agent for the treatment of cancer. Swarthout's treatment schedule was revised recently and he now needs the radioimmunotherapy that is available at only a handful of select clinics.
Anyone interested in joining Swarthout's support team can do so by visiting CaringCoaches.org. On the site, fans can send messages of support or assist the fight financially. Any financial gifts provided through the site are administered by the National Heritage Foundation.
Swarthout, a native of Prosser, Wash., began school at the University of Montana in 1938 and eventually earned five varsity letters with the Grizzlies, three in football and two in basketball. He played quarterback and halfback before finding a starting position at end for Coach Doug Fessenden's 1941 team and Coach Clyde Carpenter's 1942 team.
Swarthout graduated in 1942 with a degree in political science.
After several successful years coaching at the high school level in Washington, Swarthout joined Darryl Royal's staff at the University of Washington. He eventually followed Royal to the University of Texas before returning to Montana to take over the Griz program in 1967.
Montana had gone through a drought in the 1960s prior to Swarthout's arrival, going 20-35, but things turned around immediately in 1967. The Grizzlies went 7-3 in Swarthout's first season, their best finish in 30 years.
Swarthout's 1969 and 1970 teams both produced 10-0 undefeated regular seasons and advanced to the Camellia Bowl in Sacramento, Calif., the NCAA's college division national championship game. The Griz outscored their opponents 645-254 over those two seasons, breaking 81 school and 21 league records, and Swarthout was named the Big Sky Conference coach of the year both seasons.
Swarthout, who was also the UM athletic director from 1967 to 1974, finished his Montana coaching career in 1975, finishing with a nine-year mark of 51-41-1. At the time that was the most career victories for a Griz football coach.
Swarthout and his wife, Mary, live in Olympia, Wash., and have six children. Over 100 of Swarthout's former players reunited last September in Missoula on a Griz football home weekend to honor the coach.
The web site is attempting to raise support to provide radioimmunotherapy for Swarthout. Radioimmunotherapy is an experimental treatment that was approved by the FDA in 2002 and is the first radioimmunotherapy agent for the treatment of cancer. Swarthout's treatment schedule was revised recently and he now needs the radioimmunotherapy that is available at only a handful of select clinics.
Anyone interested in joining Swarthout's support team can do so by visiting CaringCoaches.org. On the site, fans can send messages of support or assist the fight financially. Any financial gifts provided through the site are administered by the National Heritage Foundation.
Swarthout, a native of Prosser, Wash., began school at the University of Montana in 1938 and eventually earned five varsity letters with the Grizzlies, three in football and two in basketball. He played quarterback and halfback before finding a starting position at end for Coach Doug Fessenden's 1941 team and Coach Clyde Carpenter's 1942 team.
Swarthout graduated in 1942 with a degree in political science.
After several successful years coaching at the high school level in Washington, Swarthout joined Darryl Royal's staff at the University of Washington. He eventually followed Royal to the University of Texas before returning to Montana to take over the Griz program in 1967.
Montana had gone through a drought in the 1960s prior to Swarthout's arrival, going 20-35, but things turned around immediately in 1967. The Grizzlies went 7-3 in Swarthout's first season, their best finish in 30 years.
Swarthout's 1969 and 1970 teams both produced 10-0 undefeated regular seasons and advanced to the Camellia Bowl in Sacramento, Calif., the NCAA's college division national championship game. The Griz outscored their opponents 645-254 over those two seasons, breaking 81 school and 21 league records, and Swarthout was named the Big Sky Conference coach of the year both seasons.
Swarthout, who was also the UM athletic director from 1967 to 1974, finished his Montana coaching career in 1975, finishing with a nine-year mark of 51-41-1. At the time that was the most career victories for a Griz football coach.
Swarthout and his wife, Mary, live in Olympia, Wash., and have six children. Over 100 of Swarthout's former players reunited last September in Missoula on a Griz football home weekend to honor the coach.
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