UPDATE: More information will be made available closer to the January 27th game, so stay tuned to this post for additional information! The original post begins below…

Hartford, along with the other 11 members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, will be hosting its annual “Coaches vs. Cancer” night on Friday, January 27th.

The annual endeavor, started a few years ago by then-Hartford Athletic Director and now High School Principal, Dave Janicki, has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the last few years for the American Cancer Society. Hartford hosted the first one solely on its own and the conference schools of the Southwestern Athletic Conference joined the initiative the next year.

Hartford will be hosting Lawton at the High School gym that night and “Coaches vs. Cancer” night will coincide with Hartford’s “Winterfest” festivities. The Varsity Girls Basketball game will be played first at 5:30 PM, while the Boys game will follow a between game ceremony plus 20 minutes of pregame. The crowning of Queen and Princess will happen during halftime of the Boys game, with King and Prince being crowned at the dance following the games.

As a result of “Coaches vs. Cancer” night, several fundraising efforts will be taking place the week of January 23rd-27th in preparation of the big night at Hartford and all across the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

FUNDRAISERS
The Hartford Athletic Department will be selling “Coaches vs. Cancer” T-Shirts in the Athletic Office beginning January 23rd. The shirts will cost $10, with a majority of the sales benefiting the American Cancer Society.

On Friday, January 27th before the games, there will be a benefit spaghetti dinner in the Hartford High School / Middle School cafeteria from 4:30-6:00 PM, with proceeds also benefiting the American Cancer Society.

Also, as you enter Hartford High School on game night, donation jars will be available with all funds also going to the American Cancer Society. Also, there will be a raffle available. There are usually some great prizes involved. Previous prizes have included game balls and a fishing trip to Canada.

GAMES ACROSS THE CONFERENCE
Other Southwestern Athletic Conference games ongoing on “Coaches vs. Cancer” night will be Gobles at Bloomingdale, Bangor at Fennville, Decatur at Lawrence, Watervliet at Marcellus and Saugatuck at Martin.

LAST WORD…
On behalf of all of us at Hartford and the Hartford Indian Football Web Site, we ask that everyone that can donate please donate to this worthwhile cause and support our vision to raise awareness and bring hope that we can make inroads to defeat cancer. We, as a conference, have pulled through the good and bad; the triumphs and the tragedies, especially in the past year. We, as a conference, can make a huge impact on so many people, within our conference, the state and the nation. This cause is far greater than ourselves!

ABOUT “COACHES vs. CANCER”
Coaches vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches that empowers coaches, their teams and local communities to make a difference in the fight against cancer. The program leverages personal experiences, community leadership and professional excellence of coaches nationwide to increase cancer awareness and promote healthy living through year-round awareness efforts, fundraising activities and advocacy programs.

Coaches vs. Cancer evolved from the idea of Norm Stewart, the former Men’s Basketball coach at the University of Missouri. Stewart, himself, was a cancer survivor and a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He began the program by challenging fans to pledge dollar amounts for every three points made by his team during the season.

In 1993, the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches adopted Stewart’s vision and transformed it into a nationwide effort to unite coaches and teams across the nation in a common goal to provide help and hope to people facing cancer. Today, more than 2,000 Division I, II and III college coaches and teams and more than 100 high school coaches and teams are involved in the program and have raised nearly $75 million since its inception to support the American Cancer Society lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer as a life-threatening disease.