George Schroeder: Diagnosis: A determined Bob De Carolis in the face of ...

CORVALLIS — The foosball table was supposed to help ease the demands of a high-pressure job.

Bob De Carolis would invite athletic department staffers into his office for impromptu tournaments. No statistics, no won-lost records, just fun. That was the idea, anyway.

All of those best-laid plans ended up buried beneath, well, plans. Before long, the table was covered with blueprints for building projects and other similar stuff. No one played games. There was no time in a hectic schedule.

The job of an athletic director is like that.

Which is why back in 2008, when De Carolis noticed he was having trouble keeping time with the classic rock he enjoys while driving — he whistles or hums, and beats the steering wheel with his fingers — he marked it up to strain.

Oregon State needed a new basketball coach. Guys kept turning down the job. Pressure was mounting.

“It was a mess,” De Carolis said.

If he felt “a little shaky,” well, who could blame him? But three years later, he knows the real reason. In June — “June 10,” he says, “it was a Friday” — De Carolis was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

His initial reaction: “How much longer do I have to live?”

De Carolis laughs now, remembering the moment. He quickly learned the degenerative disorder isn’t a death sentence, that it’s manageable, with a few lifestyle modifications. There’s probably some lingering relief in the chuckle — but there’s also just humor.

Thursday morning, De Carolis sat relaxed in his office, reluctantly telling the story. As he spoke, the thumb on his left hand regularly twitched, the involuntary tremors the only visible symptom of the disease. De Carolis’ left leg sometimes shakes, too. His balance has been slightly affected.

“If I ever got stopped for (suspicion of) DUI,” he says, “I would be in trouble.”

De Carolis doesn’t want this column to be about him. Instead he would like to educate people about Parkinson’s, which affects the central nervous system. Perhaps a million people in the United States have the disease, which is characterized by tremors, muscular rigidity and slowing movement.

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