Last year's event exceeded all expectations by raising over $35,000 for former Bulls wrestler Jeff Parker, who was battling cancer, as well as Carly's Club in Buffalo, the pediatric cancer unit of Roswell Park. Parker, who hailed from Foxborough, MA, was a UB captain, vice-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at UB and a scholar-athlete who won over 70 matches for the Bulls. He lost his courageous battle to cancer on May 22, 2010 at the age of 25.
Sales are already underway for three major fundraising initiatives for this year's event: a New Era 5950 hat that honors the memory of Parker, raffle tickets that sell for $10 each and feature a grand prize of a 58" television set, and pledge forms that will allow people to donate for the number of takedowns the Bulls will compile in the match against Northern Illinois are all available at a website devoted to the event that can be found at BuffaloBulls.com/takedowncancer.
In addition, the Parker 5950 hats and the raffle tickets will be on sale in Alumni Arena at both the UB Ticket Office and the Recreation and Intramurals Office (Room 130) during regular business hours. Cash and checks will be accepted at both locations.
Jill Kelly, wife of hall of fame quarterback Jim Kelly, will also be on hand to sign her book "Without a Word" from noon to 1pm.
The day of the event will feature a huge raffle with numerous autographed items from the world of sports as well as numerous gift certificates and prizes from local vendors as well as long-sleeve t-shirts commemorating the second annual event.
"Last year's event went above and beyond my wildest expectations and showed us again how caring and giving Western New York and the wrestling community is," said UB head coach Jim Beichner. "With Jeff's tragic passing in the past year, our resolve is even greater to make this event bigger and better and raise even more to assist cancer research and make a difference in both the Buffalo and Boston communities. We hope that wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike will join us on Feb. 20 to salute Jeff's life and help us in our quest to Takedown Cancer for good."
Recently, the New York State Collegiate Coaches Association agreed to expand the Takedown Cancer fundraising initiative to every school in the state, helping take Parker's legacy a step further.
"They (the NYSCCA) all jumped aboard so now we have 23 more schools in New York doing this event, and we're going to come together this year and see how much money we were able to raise," Beichner added. "We also want to take it nationally. We would love to have 300-plus wrestling programs at the collegiate level doing a Takedown Cancer event."
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