Teams have donated thousands of dollars in honor of Mark Herzlich diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma last May
It has been a common occurrence this season to see Mark Herzlich standing at midfield receiving a giant check from the schools of opposing teams.
SuperFans who have been to any of BC’s home football games should be able to recall seeing him, with the yellow towel around his neck, shaking hands with the presenter of the check and smiling for a picture at midfield in Alumni Stadium.
The money from these checks is for Uplifting Athletes, a national nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by a group of college football players, and will go toward Ewing’s Sarcoma research through organizations like the Sarcoma Foundation of America. According to its website, its mission is “to align college football with rare diseases and raise them as a national priority through outreach, research, education and advocacy.”
There are chapters of Uplifting Athletes at universities across the country run by Current football student-athletes. There are currently chapters at Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Colgate University, and, of course the school nearest to our heart, Boston College.
Each one of these chapters chooses a rare disease to support that is relevant to their team. Boston College’s chapter supports Ewing’s Sarcoma, the cancer that Mark Herzlich was diagnosed with last May.
While most people associate BC’s chapter with Herzlich, Uplifting Athletes at BC was actually started by Ryan Lindsey, a junior wide receiver. Lindsey started BC’s chapter after learning of Herzlich’s battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma.
“As soon as we heard about Mark’s battle with this rare disease, we wanted to do something,” said Ryan. “I was familiar with Uplifting Athletes from some of my friends that play football for other schools and they put me in touch with the executive director, Scott Shirley. The coaches were supportive of the idea so we met with Scott and he helped us get started.”
The inaugural event for BC was “Lift for Life,” which took place over the summer and raised over $30,000, a record for an inaugural event. The event included eight strength and training competitions, and more than 60 football players participated.
“It’s humbling for me to learn that not only are my teammates supporting me, but that my situation has inspired them to do something that will help a lot of people facing similar challenges,” said Herzlich.
At the Notre Dame game, Charlie Weis presented Herzlich with a personal check for $5,000. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney also gave a personal check for $5,000, FedEx Orange Bowl donated $5,000, Virginia Tech donated $9,494.94 and Florida State donated $9,400, both in honor of Herzlich’s number 94.
Teams have raised money through various fundraising efforts. The North Carolina State dance team collected money at all entry gates to the stadium during a home game against Duke. The NC State football players also donated their meal money for two weeks. Virginia Tech sold “Team United” wristbands for $1 each.
BC has also raised money itself with the “Beat Cancer” tshirt. BC is donating $5 from the sale of every t-shirt to the American Cancer Society in support of Ewing’s Sarcoma research.
While we may not like opposing teams, especially the ones that hand us a loss, we should respect them for supporting one of our players and a cause that our school has taken on. The ACC is full of caring players and coaches, and we should acknowledge their generous contributions that will go toward Ewing’s Sarcoma research.
To find caring players and coaches, though, we can look at our own football program. Players like Lindsey and coaches like Spaziani helped BC’s chapter of Uplifting Athletes get started, which allowed for all the money that has been raised to support Herzlich and many others who suffer from Ewing’s Sarcoma.
