July 9, 2009

Two decades have passed since Kirsten Kindt ran track and cross country for the University of Colorado, but she fondly recalls coach Jerry Quiller screaming himself hoarse during races.

"Go, Kirsten! Be a bulldog!" It was Quiller's way of telling Kindt to be tenacious: Get after the woman in front of you and don't let go.

"I still hear that sometimes when I'm running," said Kindt, 44.

Now Kindt and several of Quiller's former athletes want him to be the bulldog in his fight against cancer. And they want to coach him through it.

Four decades after Quiller gave up trying to be a decathlete and began a career devoted to nurturing the athletic aspirations of others, his doctors want him to condition himself with an athlete's discipline -- again. They need him to get stronger so he can withstand a stem-cell transplant to help him battle multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer he has been fighting for two years.

For the complete article by John Meyer of The Denver Post click here