H.S. Football Team Dons Pink Uniforms To Fight Breast Cancer

The Oregonian, Joe Freeman
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/tigard_high_schools_one-of-a-k.html

TIGARD — As the Tigard High School football team sprinted onto the field Friday night, the ooohs and aaahs instantly poured out of the jam-packed student section at Robert A. Gray Stadium.

“Whooooa,” crowed one stunned teenager dressed head to toe in pink.

“That’s awesome,” remarked another pink-clad student.

They were reacting to the sleek new one-of-a-kind Nike uniforms the football team had just unveiled to raise awareness for one of the world’s most devastating diseases. But they might as well have been responding to the heartwarming actions of a team and a community.

What started as a grassroots campaign to support an assistant coach and his cancer-stricken wife two years ago has blossomed into a yearly tribute at Tigard to fight breast cancer. As the Tigers completed their undefeated regular season with a blowout win over Hillsboro, the team sported Nike uniforms with pink numbering and lettering, the student section and parents wore pink outfits and a host of promotions throughout the game raised money to benefit Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

“This is one of the most special things I’ve been a part of,” said Tigard football coach Craig Ruecker, who has coached in Oregon for more than 30 years. “The credit really goes to our young men … 17, 18 year-olds are by nature rather selfish. But to see them caring about something that is a lot more important than themselves is incredible. This has electrified our school and our community.”

Today marks the last day of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and throughout October professional sports teams did a host of things to bring attention to a disease that inflicted 1.6 million women worldwide — including 230,000 in the United States — last year. Major league baseball players sporadically played with pink bats and wore pink batting gloves and shoes. NFL players wore pink socks, gloves, mouthpieces, cleats and more.

But no high school team in Oregon — and perhaps the United States — has done more than Tigard to help the cause.

Two years ago, assistant coach Jay Butz’ wife, Stephanie, was diagnosed with breast cancer, a shot to the gut for a close-knit Tigard football family. As Stephanie underwent debilitating treatment, losing all of her hair in the process, the football team decided it had to do something to show solidarity.

So the players organized a group to walk in Komen Portland Race for the Cure, soliciting the entire varsity roster and coaching staff to participate in the annual event. The following week, word of the walk spread through Tigard High as players wore their pink “Team Stephanie” shirts to school.

When the rest of campus caught wind, they also decided to act, organizing a “Pink Out” for that week’s football game. Hundreds of students filled the stands draped in pink. The team wore pink decals on their helmets and some players bought pink socks and wrist bands and wore pink tape on their wrists and ankles to honor the Butz family.

The potentially devastating situation produced a double-dose of positives. First, Stephanie Butz beat cancer. Also, the efforts of that 2009 team live on in the community. The team held another “Pink Out” game last year, with an even larger response, and it has evolved into a budding tradition.

“It’s something that’s really hit this community hard,” senior quarterback Nico Freni said. “When that incident first happened and she was stricken with cancer, the community really rallied behind that. She’s doing well now, but even so, that touched all of us and we wanted to carry that legacy on.”

Which leads back to Friday. Five weeks ago, Nike approached Ruecker and the school’s athletic director, Alan Boschma, with special plans. The company planned to outfit six high schools across the country with new “Pro Combat” uniforms and Tigard was selected as one of the beneficiaries — with a twist. The Tigard uniforms would be the only ones in the country honoring breast cancer awareness, piggybacking off the school’s “Pink Out” game.

The company designed dark green Tigard uniforms with pink numbers on the front, back and shoulders and with TIGARD in pink across the chest. Also, each player was given a pair of pink Nike cleats left over from supplies handed out to NFL players this month.

The team kept the uniforms a secret until players sprinted onto the field Friday night. Ralph Greene, the global director of business development of Nike football and a Tigard team parent, said the experience exceeded expectations.

“I just love it because it gives the boys a little more sense of the humanity of life,” said Greene, whose son Kaz plays running back. “Plus, people think football players are just a bunch of brutes. Well, these guys have feelings too. And this gives them a chance to let it out.”

The benefits of such a night are many, according to Andrea Rader, a spokesperson with the Komen Foundation.

“These kids get engaged and their families get engaged and the message spreads,” Rader said. “And what we find then is that people tend to act. … Thirty years ago, you couldn’t’ even talk about this disease. I had an aunt die and we never mentioned it because there was a shame and a stigma attached to it. It’s really wonderful what these kids are doing. It’s really very heartwarming.”

Of course, there are financial benefits, too. Tigard auctioned off 20 of the special uniforms to team parents, contributed a percentage of concessions and held a multitude of fundraisers Friday night with proceeds going to Komen. Seventy-five percent of that money will stay in the local community, Rader said.

The team will keep the Nike uniforms and Ruecker says the Tigers will wear them once a year. What started as a grassroots campaign two years ago has developed into a lasting legacy.

“You don’t really think about cancer until you know somebody who’s been diagnosed, and once you have somebody close to you who becomes threatened with that terrible disease, it hits you how hard it is,” senior lineman Isaac Schimmels said. “Watching Stephanie go through that was really hard. But to see her pull through and make it and be a survivor and to see our school do everything we could to give her support was really cool. This has been something I’ll never forget.”