The town of Mount Ayr will be turning pink for Friday night’s homecoming football game against West Central Valley. It has been designated as the “Tackle Cancer” game and as part of it the Raiders will be wearing custom-made pink jerseys.
Mount Ayr co-coach Delwyn Showalter says they have pink mouthpieces, pink socks, the helmet decals will be pink, they have pink paint for the field and they have sold over 500 t-shirts. Showalter says planning for the game began a year ago. He says they searched for pink jerseys and finally were able to get some custom jersey’s made through a Carroll company.
Showalter says are businesses and individuals from across the state have donated money to “sponsor” the event. He says well over 120 have become pink sponsors to play for the pink uniforms and other items. Showalter hopes they have just as big a response for their jersey auction.
Each year the football program holds a jersey auction on the Thursday night of homecoming week. Fans bid for the right to wear a players jersey on the day of the game. This year, the fans will be bidding to become the owner of the jersey. The jersey auction is the main fundraiser for the football program.
This year all the proceeds will be donated toward the fight against cancer. He says they committed to give all the money up as cancer has touched everyone’s life in some way. Showalter says they asked the kids to think about those who have been affected by cancer.
Showalter feels homecoming is the perfect week top host this event. He says the excitement of homecoming and the atmosphere around it is important for what they’re trying to accomplish. But he says they wanted the players to understand in the midst of the happy time of homecoming, other people are suffering.