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A&M finale for Dorr Aggies QB coach battling Lou Gehrig's Disease
Posted: Monday December 27, 1999 07:30 PM
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Alamo Bowl will be the last game for Ray Dorr as Texas A&M's quarterbacks coach, head coach R.C. Slocum said Monday. Dorr, 58, who has been battling Lou Gehrig's disease, will be reassigned to a non-coaching capacity with the team, Slocum said. "The disease has progressed fairly rapidly. Ray has done a great job this year. He's demonstrated tremendous courage to our football team," Slocum said in a news conference. No. 18 Texas A&M faces No. 13 Penn State in the Alamo Bowl on Tuesday. The Aggies learned in June that Dorr had been diagnosed with the fatal disease, formally called amyothropic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. It is a neurological disorder in which muscles slowly atrophy, causing weakness and eventual paralysis and pain in the latter stages. There is no cure, and treatment generally is aimed at easing discomfort. All season, Dorr has done his job without missing a single meeting or practice, despite the illness, Slocum said. "He's one of those guys, over the years in coaching you're always talking with young people about hanging in there, it's not the bad things that happen to you but how you react to those things. This man could not have demonstrated more beautifully what that's all about," Slocum said. Dorr came to Texas A&M in 1997 from Kentucky. He also has worked as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California, Southern Illinois, Washington, Kent and Akron. "He's been just a pillar of courage and strength to all of us," Slocum said. "He's been really a great inspiration to us."
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