UW-Whitewater head football coach Kevin Bullis and retired head coach Bob Berezowitz will join a post-game reception and fundraiser for local brain injury survivor Thomas Hapka after the Warhawk football game against Oshkosh on Saturday, October 6.
The event, organized by Life Beyond Brain Injury, will be held immediately after the Warhawk football game at the Willow Brook Golf Course (formerly Whitewater County Club) located at N9035 WI Highway 89 in Whitewater. Coaches Bullis and Berezowitz, as well as unspecified Warhawk players, will be on hand to meet fans.
There will be appetizers, a 50/50 cash raffle, and a silent auction of UW-Whitewater sports items, including a game-used helmet, two 2014 Championship commemorative footballs, team-signed footballs, and other Warhawk memorabilia. The event is open to the public and there is no admission fee, but donations are welcome and all proceeds from the event will go to Hapka’s medical fund.
Hapka, a UW-Whitewater graduate, was critically wounded when a chiropractor tore an artery in his neck and a nearby emergency room failed to diagnose his brain injury for almost three days. Hapka never received a legal settlement, and the ongoing complications from his brain injury have financially devastated Tom and his family.
Starr Lee, a founding member of Life Beyond Brain Injury and a journalism student at UW-Whitewater, said the group planned the post-game fundraiser as part of UW-Whitewater’s Family Day festivities.
“Family Day is all about UW-Whitewater families, and Tom’s family has a deep, longstanding connection to this university,” Lee said. “Tom’s dad, who died last year, worked at the campus for more than 37 years, and the Hapka family as a whole has provided more than 100 years of dedicated service to UW-Whitewater. Now the Hapka’s need their Warhawk family to rally around them, and that’s our call to action for this year’s Family Day.”
Those interested in learning more about the Life Beyond Brain Injury event at Willow Brook Golf Course (formerly Whitewater Country Club) are encouraged to email info@LifeBeyondBrainInjury.org or call 262.458.4090.
