Bill Walsh battling leukemia

SAN FRANCISCO — Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh, who built an NFL dynasty with the San Francisco 49ers and revolutionized the sport with his West Coast offense, disclosed Friday that he has leukemia.

Stanford officials confirmed that Walsh, who served as the school's interim athletic director until July, has told friends and colleagues there that he has cancer.

"I'm positive but not evangelistic," the 74-year-old Walsh told The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat and The Sports Xchange Web sites. "I'm pragmatically doing everything my physicians recommend, and I'm working my way through it."

Walsh said the cancer first was diagnosed in 2004, but he feels better since a series of blood transfusions in the past month.

"The worst phase was three or four weeks ago. I've come back dramatically since, and I'm better," he said.

He said he was going public now, because word had begun to circulate.

Walsh was 47 when he first became an NFL head coach, and he spent just 10 seasons on the sideline. But he left an indelible mark, winning three Super Bowls and turning the 49ers into the most successful team of the 1980s with his innovative offensive strategies and teaching techniques. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers.

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GLENN AGGRAVATES KNEE: Dallas Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn said he hopes to play Sunday at Arizona even though he apparently aggravated his injured right knee during practice Friday. Glenn, who had missed two days of practice because of irritation under his kneecap, appeared to re-injure himself reaching for a pass early in practice Friday. He hobbled off the field and slammed his helmet to the floor of the Cowboys' practice building. Afterward, he returned to run some pass routes on the side. "It just hurts when I make a cut," said Glenn, who expects his status to be a game-time decision.

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