When John Greenhalgh, the founding director of the Hockey Humanitarian award, received Kristine Pierce’s nomination from Rochester Institute of Technology sports information director Chuck Mitrano, he couldn’t help himself.
“She’s not eligible,” he told Mitrano. “She’s an angel.”
She’s also this year’s recipient, announced Friday in Anaheim, Calif., site of the Division I Frozen Four. The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation prefers “recipient” to “winner” since, according to trustee Jeffery Millman, “All [the nominees] are winners.”
The decision must have been a difficult one for the committee, based on the impressive list of achievements attributed to all five finalists: Pierce, from Division III RIT, Jamie Baby from the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Pete Gardiner from RPI, Ryan Reinheller from Alaska-Fairbanks, and Sara Nelson from Dartmouth.
The award, which recognizes “college hockey’s finest citizen,” was instituted in 1996 to honor the courage and dedication of Boston University’s J.P. McKersie, who not only came back from a debilitating injury, but also made a difference in the community.
“With all the negative attention paid to so many athletes, we thought it appropriate to honor the athletes who serve as role models,” said Millman.
It’s been given annually since then. Kristine Pierce is the first women to win the award, and the first player from a non-Division I institution.
For Pierce, the award caps a college career that is nothing less than astounding on and off the ice. A skilled blueliner, Pierce came to RIT in 1996 “on top of the world,” ready to play the game she loved at the collegiate level. She had already successfully overcome dyslexia, was getting good grades in school and logging many hours as a volunteer for many causes in the Rochester, N.Y., area.
But things changed on December 2 of that year, when she was told that the lump on her neck wasn’t a cyst. She had Hodgkin’s disease. John Bennett, one of her physicians, described her situation as “a very bulky disease inside of her chest.”
The only way to save Kristine was six months of intensive chemotherapy and 21 straight days of beam radiation treatments. Pierce was at first in denial about her situation, but soon decided to attack the cancer. “It was like it was the third period and I was losing,” she said. “I had to work hard.”
She successfully completed the treatments and was pronounced cancer-free on August 8, 1997. Even before that, she had decided to rededicate herself to the many causes she supported, and, in light of her cancer, begin to work with other patients as well. “When I started to feel better, and my hair started growing back, I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get off this couch and get back in the world.'”
Kristine’s world has included volunteering for 27 different charities and causes on 199 separate occasions. In total, she has spent at least 485 hours to date “giving back.” These activities included:
- Camp Good Days and Special Times for kids with cancer
- Big Brother/Big Sister Programs
- Inner-city soup kitchens
- Habitat for Humanity
- Organizing Girl Scout cookie drives
- The “I Can Make It” program for kids with learning disabilities
- Babysitting for the poor
- Working with girls’ hockey programsShe once wrote about her dedication to volunteerism, “It is those little things that make a difference. What is important to me now is putting smiles on people’s faces; helping those in need and making a difference in this ever-so-changing world. Volunteerism is what makes me most happy. The sense of gratification I get from these acts cannot be bought, sold, or packaged. Most important is that the world becomes a better place.”
None of the many hours spend working with those in need affected her schoolwork, where she earned several academic scholarships and a host of other awards for academic and humanitarian achievement.
Oh, and she played hockey too – with the same passion that she approaches all things. Pierce, who has worn the “C” many times throughout her youth hockey career, including times when she was the only female on the team, captained the Tigers her final three seasons. She was an All-ECAC defenseman and a Division III All-American. This season, hindered by injury, she still scored seven goals and led the Tigers to an ECAC playoff berth.
When asked about future plans, Pierce is true to her nature. “I honestly don’t know. I’m graduating in May, but I have no definite plans. I’ll go wherever life takes me,” she said. “I know why God dealt me the hand he did. And I would never trade places with anyone else.”
Kristine’s not worried about her future. She’s faced enough adversity and understands life well enough to know that with the right attitude and a desire to win, anything is possible.
As she says, “Once you remember that every day is a gift, you never have a bad day.”
