?National College Football Day? is Saturday: Nearly 100 spectators gathered around a field in New Brunswick, N. J., on Nov. 6, 1869, to witness a game unlike anything seen before. The competition between Rutgers and Princeton was ?replete with surprise, strategy, prodigies of determination and physical prowess,? to use the words of one player.
On that day 136 years, ago the Scarlet Knights defeated Princeton, 6-4, but more importantly, the players left a lasting legacy that evolved into the great spectacle of intercollegiate football. To honor the birth of an American institution, the SBC Cotton Bowl Classic created a holiday held annually on the first Saturday of November. Therefore, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005, is the second-annual National College Football Day.
National College Football Day takes on added significance this year. The SBC Cotton Bowl has partnered with the Prostate Cancer Foundation to increase awareness about prostate cancer, a disease that strikes one in every six American men.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), based in Santa Monica, Calif., is the world’s largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993, the PCF has raised more than $245 million and provided funding for prostate cancer research to more than 1,200 researchers at more than 100 institutions worldwide.
A little known fact is that a man is 33% more likely to develop prostate cancer than an American woman is to get breast cancer. The PCF is dedicated to finding better treatments and a cure to put an end to this deadly disease.
“Everyone knows someone affected by prostate cancer, and considering over 232,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone, I can’t think of a better organization for the SBC Cotton Bowl to be aligned with than the PCF,” said Gayle M. Earls, Chairman of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association. “We had so much fun with the inaugural National College Football Day last year, but by teaming up with the PCF, we can help further their important cause while joining forces to make the first Saturday in November a nationally observed holiday each year.”
To honor college football’s 136th birthday, the SBC Cotton Bowl and the PCF produced limited edition lapel pins and mailed them last week to hundreds of coaches, athletic directors, university presidents, sports publicists and media throughout the United States.
“We asked our colleagues around the country to wear this lapel pin at their games,” said Earls. “Not only are they celebrating the birth of college football, but also helping raise awareness about the most common non-skin cancer in America. We should all do our part to support prostate cancer research and the work of the PCF.”
SAAC Food Drive Set for Auburn Game: The UK Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and God?s Pantry are teaming up for the fourth-annual SAAC/God?s Pantry Food Drive.
Fans attending Saturday?s football game vs. Auburn are encouraged to donate canned goods, other non-perishable food items, or money. Students from the SAAC will be set up to take donations at each gate of the stadium.
Fans who donate will receive an entry form for a prize drawing as 125 pairs of men?s basketball game tickets will be given away.
The food drive benefits God?s Pantry, a non-profit organization that helps feed the hungry in Central and Eastern Kentucky. For every $1 donated, God?s Pantry can purchase $10 worth of food.
