Painting of Lou Gehrig By Bronxville Writer/Artist to Highlight MDA Art Exhibit

"Pride of the Yankees" by William M. Ross

TUCSON, Ariz., April 2, 2002 - An opaque watercolor painting by William M. Ross of Bronxville, N.Y., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

Ross' "Pride of the Yankees" depicts legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig standing before several microphones, waiting for the crowd's applause to die down before delivering his now-famous 1939 farewell address. Ross' work captures Gehrig's consummate humility as he prepares to utter the immortal words, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

Ross, 64, is affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the same disease that led Gehrig to retire from baseball and claimed his life two years later. ALS causes the progressive disintegration of motor neurons, resulting in the weakening of voluntary muscles.

The painting by Ross, along with 14 other works from the MDA Art Collection created by artists affected by ALS, will be exhibited during a tour of MDA/ALS centers in the northeastern United States in May. The tour opens, fittingly enough, at the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Center, in New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, on May 2, and will run through May 10.

The May 2 opening is timed to commemorate ALS Awareness Month. Though the rest of the exhibit schedule isn't yet final, it's anticipated that the artworks will appear in at least two more of MDA's 25 ALS centers before returning to MDA national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., in September.

"We're very fortunate to have this poignant reminder of Lou Gehrig's life by Bill Ross in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA President & CEO Robert Ross (no relation). "His contribution to our Collection will undoubtedly touch all who see it as it travels to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection."

Bill Ross has been painting for as long as he can remember. He's also written a pair of plays which were produced at New York City's Royal Court Theatre, and a children's novel titled "The Ticket to Harmony." In addition to his artistic endeavors, Ross is a retired high school teacher.

This is the third work by Ross to be accepted by MDA's permanent Art Collection. While the two earlier works — "Twilight in Paradise" and "Heaven on a Summer Night" — were completed when Ross still had the use of his hands, "Pride of the Yankees" was painted using a mouthstick device to hold the paintbrush in the artist's mouth.

The Collection was established in 1992 to focus attention on the achievements of artists with disabilities, and to emphasize that physical disability is no barrier to creativity. The permanent Collection currently comprises more than 280 works by artists ages 2 to 82 and represents all 50 states. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.

Selected art from the Collection has been exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art; Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and Forbes Magazine Galleries in New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Los Angeles Children's Museum; JFK Center at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capital Children's Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains five clinics for New York adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases.

The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.