Robert Morris women’s basketball coach Buscaglia will be happy with a tie
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The bow tie Robert Morris women’s basketball coach Charlie Buscaglia will wear at Thursday’s game is more than an accessory.
It is tied to something of greater significance.
“I have never worn a bow tie in my life, but it’s not about the bow tie or making a fashion statement,” said Buscaglia, whose first-place Northeast Conference team hosts Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. at UPMC Events Center. “It’s about the foundation of what it represents.”
Buscaglia will don the neckwear as a way to bring awareness for more bone marrow donors. Robert Morris is teaming up with Crawley’s Creation — a line of bow ties — and the Be The Match Foundation to honor former university professor Rex Crawley.
Crawley, a communications professor and assistant dean of Robert Morris’ school of communications and information systems, died in November 2013 from complications from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. His signature look included bow ties. He needed a second bone marrow donation.
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Be The Match Foundation supports the life-saving mission of a national marrow donor program, ensuring patients diagnosed with blood cancers get the stem cell transplant they need.
According to Medical News Now, bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside some of the bones in the body, including the hip and thigh bones. Bone marrow contains immature cells, called stem cells.
African Americans have the most diverse tissue types, which makes the matching process even more challenging, said Sylvia Crawley, Rex Crawley’s sister and creator of Crawley’s Creation.
“Currently, individuals of Black and African American ancestry are underrepresented on the registry, making it more difficult to find donor matches for those suffering from blood diseases like sickle cell,” said Mary Halet, director of community engagement at Be The Match on its website. “With this new campaign, our hope is to raise awareness of the registry, dispel some of the myths about marrow donation and get more young people of diverse backgrounds to sign up as potential lifesaving matches.”
Sylvia Crawley created the Rex Collection of bow ties to raise awareness about the need for more African Americans to be tested for bone marrow donations, she said. A portion of the proceeds from the game will go toward cancer research, and Buscaglia will wear the Colonial tie from the Rex Collection.
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“The bow tie was my brother’s signature look, and he wasn’t afraid to take fashion risks,” Sylvia Crawley said. “He worked to make a difference in peoples’ lives. We didn’t realize the magnitude of his impact until we heard all of the stories after his death. Students told us he helped them get scholarships and inspired them to learn.”
Rex Crawley’s wife, Daria, and their sons, Xavier Leroy, 11, and Vaughn Leroy, 6, will be at the game. The boys will be wearing bow ties.
“It is important for them to be at the game to be a part of carrying on their father’s legacy,” said Sylvia Crawley, who helped Buscaglia choose the right tie.
“It was such an emotional time when we lost Rex,” said Buscaglia, whose victory Monday at Mount St. Mary’s secured the Colonials the top seed in the NEC Tournament. “He had a special connection to our women’s basketball community. One swab could possibly save a life.”
RECAP: Facing an eight-point halftime deficit, we used a 17-0 run to begin the third quarter and held strong on the road, defeating Mount St. Mary's to win our fourth straight @NECsports regular-season crown! ?
?: https://t.co/5Dppc8b2Mb#ColonialPride ??? #HoopTownship
— RMU Basketball (@RMUWBasketball) March 3, 2020
A representative with Be The Match will be at the game, and fans are encouraged to register with the foundation to be tested for bone marrow donations.
Sylvia Crawley, of Durham, N.C., will launch her women’s line of bow ties at the game.
“My brother told me I should design bow ties,” said Crawley, a standout basketball player who was part of North Carolina’s national championship as a seniorbefore going on to play in the WNBA. “His fraternity brothers wore them, so I created the Kappa bow tie and it sold out the first day.”
Tickets are available for the game, which will be broadcast on ESPN+.