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Kern: Penn safety Philippi donating bone marrow

PENN WILL PLAY its two most important games the next two weeks. On Saturday afternoon the Quakers (5-2, 4-0 Ivy League) are at Princeton (5-2, 3-1). And on the night of Nov. 11 they host Harvard (6-1, 4-0), the 23rd-ranked team in FCS, which won at Princeton two weeks ago in overtime.

PENN WILL PLAY its two most important games the next two weeks. On Saturday afternoon the Quakers (5-2, 4-0 Ivy League) are at Princeton (5-2, 3-1). And on the night of Nov. 11 they host Harvard (6-1, 4-0), the 23rd-ranked team in FCS, which won at Princeton two weeks ago in overtime.

"Almost every letter I get from an alum ends with, 'Beat Princeton,' " coach Ray Priore duly noted.

So does it get any larger?

Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Actually, a whole lot more.

Sports are fun and games, compared with the real world. Every now and again, athletes get to find out just how stark that difference can be.

Sophomore strong safety Sam Philippi came to West Philly from Southern California. Out there, he didn't know much about the Ivies. He was even less familiar with Penn. Yet he's been a contributor from the time he arrived. He had four interceptions last season, and has added two more this year as a starter. He's also the fourth-leading tackler, for a team that's trying to give the program its first back-to-back titles since 2009-10.

But he's doing something next month that makes all that sound almost trivial, which obviously it's not.

Philippi has become a match for a 30-year-old man living somewhere in this country who has leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. That's all the protocol allows him to know at this point in the process. In 2011, two Quakers football players also became donors.

The initiative was started by Villanova coach Andy Talley nearly a quarter-century ago. Since then, his foundation has partnered with some 50 other schools to register more than 60,000 potential donors. The result is over 250 transplants.

It's a story that never gets old. And now Philippi will be part of that legacy.

"I signed up last spring, when we did our drive," said Philippi, who is scheduled to undergo his procedure just before this semester's finals. "They contacted me in the summer to say I could be a possible match. They did some more testing and told me I was.

"I really didn't think about it at first. I guess you never think they're going to call you back. A lot of things go through your mind. What if it's during football season? Could I still do it? But without me, this person is probably going to die. How can I let that happen? So what more did I have to know? How do you say no to something like that? What if it was me or someone in my family that needed this?

"God gave me this opportunity to help a person that I don't even know. But it's not just affecting him. It's affecting his family and the people around him. I can't let them down. It's a blessing. It's not something I'm worried about (doing). Whatever I might have to go through, it's nothing compared to what they're dealing with. It's a chance I'm willing to take."

The procedure isn't as invasive as it once could be. Philippi will go into a hospital and be hooked up to IVs in each arm. He'll be under general anasthesia as he lies in a bed for several hours while the blood is being filtered through his body and harvested so it can then be transported immediately to the recipient.

"We really believe we're on this planet to help others out," Priore said. "You're lucky to have what you have. This is life and death. It's a moment when he can have an impact. That doesn't mean you don't cherish the wins, or you don't get upset for not having success. But we have our health."

Two years ago the Penn program adopted Vhito DeCapria, who's now 5, to become their captain. Even signed him to an official national letter of intent. He had a rare form of cancer. But he became part of the Quakers family, as did his parents and older brother. Vhito, who just celebrated his 500th cancer-free day, will soon go in for another checkup to monitor his progress. The players will be there with him in the treatment area for support. That's how it is with families.

"They'll be high-fiving him as he puts his little mask on," Priore said. "He's with us always. That's reality. We're trying to make a difference. After our (opening) loss to Lehigh, I walked into the locker room and saw him smiling. And he gave me a hug . . . It's such a game-changer."

Philippi's dad, Dale, played fullback and linebacker at Montana Tech. An uncle was once a competitor on ESPN's World's Strongest Man show. As a junior at JSerra Catholic in 2013, where he also ran track, he watched Harvard win at San Diego. The next year, he saw the Toreros beat Princeton. The only time he caught a Penn game was on TV.

"I think Yale kind of put a beating on them," he recalled. "I wasn't paying much attention to Penn. It's funny how it worked out."

Indeed. The donor protocol says he can't have any contact with the patient for at least a year. And that's only if the recipient consents. Philippi knows that not all of these stories have a happy ending. But he's hoping that if everything goes well, when the time is right, he can meet the person he saved.

"I don't want to be anonymous to the family," he said. "God willing, I'll be able to find out. I can't imagine how I'd react, but I think that would be pretty cool. I haven't told a ton of people yet. Some of my teammates know. They can't believe what's happening. Everyone's been super positive about it. It's actually mind- blowing. I pray about it every night, just say thanks for everything I have.

"I'm sure the family's thankful they found someone. It's usually someone who's a family member. What are the chances of finding someone randomly? When I think about that, it hits me even harder. What if I'd gone somewhere where they didn't have a program like this? It's really a miracle."

Meanwhile, there's another game to play. A big one, relatively speaking.

"To every Penn person, it's the championship, the crosstown rivalry, the bragging rights for a year," Philippi said. "It's historic. That just makes it more fun to be in. It's so intense. I remember last year just thinking it was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever been in, when we blocked a field goal at the end and won in overtime. I was like, 'So this is what it's supposed to be all about.' ''

On the field, for sure. As for the rest of it, he's about to find out.

@mikekerndn