More often than not, the only time Penn basketball fans see Fran Dunphy is on the sidelines of the Palestra, or walking up Walnut Street to get coffee.
But the 15-year Quakers coach does much more than just that, especially when it comes to community service. Dunphy will tell anyone who wants to listen that he is just as proud of his charity work as he is of his basketball team, which often joins him in his work.
"It's fun to see the kids involved and making a difference in young people's lives," Dunphy said.
Dunphy is arguably most passionate about the Coaches vs. Cancer program, whose national council he is chairing this year.
"We have the venue to impact young people and raise the awareness," he said. "Any time we can raise more dollars to fight cancer, which many of us have been affected by ... if we can make some impact in fighting it, that's what we're tryingto do."
Dunphy has worked with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, both of whom are cancer survivors. But the fraternity of college basketball coaching extends far beyond the Northeast --and so does the Coaches vs. Cancer program.
"Certainly Boeheim, and Gary Williams [of Maryland], Roy Williams [North Carolina], Kelvin Sampson [Oklahoma] and Mike Brey [Notre Dame], Mark Few [Gonzaga]," Dunphy said. "Phil Martelli [Saint Joseph's] has done a great job here in Philadelphia as well."
The entire Philadelphia Big 5 is very involved with Coaches vs. Cancer, and holds a number of events for the program each year.
"We started seven or eight years ago with just a golf tournament -- we wanted to do something to help the program and a golf tournament seemed the way to go," Dunphy said. "That has branched off into a breakfast at the floor of the Palestra. Initially, we started that breakfast with 40 people and now we're up to 600 people."
The Big 5 also hosts an open practice with all six city teams before the start of the season, which Dunphy admitted he would "like to see better attended" than it is now.
Dunphy is not involved with the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic basketball tournament each year at Madison Square Garden, which always gives the program a lot of publicity. But he does have still higher aspirations for the program here in Philadelphia.
In recent years, the annual Basket Ball, a black-tie fundraiser at the Palestra, has attracted major corporate sponsors such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Subaru of America. The next step is to get Philadelphia-area high schools involved.
"We want to get all the high schools involved and have a 'Coaches vs. Cancer game' against their chief rival," Dunphy said. "Maybe we can have a raffle or some part of the proceeds can go to Coaches vs. Cancer."
Dunphy cited St. Joseph's Preparatory School -- alma mater of Quakers freshman Mark Zoller -- as a leader in that effort.
"This past year it was almost $2,000 ... almost $5,000 over the last couple years," Dunphy said.
All that money has made Philadelphia one of the top cities in the country when it comes to fundraising for the Coaches vs. Cancer program. And Dunphy would not mind seeing a little more money come from this side of the Schuylkill River.
"That's important to us, to be the best in this area," Dunphy said. "I would love it to be more well-known on campus, but I think it's more of a Philadelphia thing than it is a University of Pennsylvania thing."
The Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, however, is very much a University of Pennsylvania thing. Dunphy and the team take time each year to work with disadvantaged youths across the city, a partnership which is now entering its fourth year.
"I think [the players] get more out of it than their little brother does," Dunphy said.
He added that the players need very little in the way of motivation to drop the books and balls and give time to those with less than they have.
Dunphy's message is simple.
"I think you will make a significant impact in a young person's life," he said. "And it will only be superceded by theimpact that it makes in your life."
