Saturday, July 9, 2011

Penn State Football: Lift for Life $94,310 Plus Raised by Players

Yesterday, the Penn State football team competed in the 9th annual Lift for Life ™ sponsored by the Penn State chapter of Uplifting Athletes.

Players sign autographs for waiting fans


Congratulations to all the Penn State football players who participated in yesterday’s Lift for Life.  Their website this morning states that they have raised $94,310.09.  Since that number reflects online donations only, event organizers expect that other proceeds at the event itself will likely surpass last year’s total of $98,461.35.

 

Nice job, guys!

Chin Ups
Each team of four went through an 11-event challenge. These events include drills such as a Leg Press, Chin Ups/Dips, the Iron Cross, two Field Challenges (carrying two 100 lb. plates or pulling a dolly with variable resistance), the Barbell bench press, and everyone's favorite - the Tire Flip - described in the brochure simply as "a really, really, big tire".  It's a tractor tire.

There were 18 teams total, with names such as “Monstars” or “American Muscle” or “Rise and Grind” or “Do the Stanky Leg”.  The team “Still Payin”, consisting of Evan Lewis, Derek Day, Brian Irvin, and Pat Zerbe, achieved the best score of the day and was declared the winners.

Named appropriately enough, the “Money Makers” team, led by #75 Eric Shrive, achieved the most donations.  In fact, Eric Shrive wound up surpassing his original $15,000 goal several times to achieve a total of $25,020!  What an accomplishment! 

The event itself is sort of hard to watch.  It’s a 5-hour event from start to finish, and you really have no idea which team is winning until the very end.  The last team comes on at 6:15, so the wait is long to know where each team stands. It's a bit like watching grass grow.

However, it’s an intimate gathering.  A steady flow of fans come and go throughout the five hour exercise.  The Penn State football fans who come for this event are some of the best fans that Penn State has, many of them our friends and acquaintances. 

Quarterback Matt McGloin Endures the Iron Cross


Talk of the upcoming season was rampant.  And with yesterday's news that Ohio State had just vacated its victories, reactions were strong and decidedly mixed.

There were chances to acquire player autographs, chances to wish favorite players good luck for the season, chances for great photos, and, finally, chances to appreciate some amazingly well toned male physiques as they engage in these grueling drills! 

You realize too how difficult this workout is, as players struggled with the challenges set before them.  Players say it is the toughest workout of the year.  We could see their pain, all endured for a good cause, for kidney cancer research.

As my husband Terry and I stood in Holuba Hall watching this impressive show of strength, it dawned on us how quickly football season will be here! 

This is a really, really big tire!


This was a great event to get us excited about the upcoming season, and a fun day for a great cause!

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations to all the athletes and the countless others behind the scenes that make this event work!

    At the risk of beating a dead horse, it's nice and refreshing to see student athletes signing autographs to raise money for kidney cancer, rather than free tattoos or cars!

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  2. Not beating a dead horse in my book! The media doesn't cover positive things that athletes do enough.

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  3. Hi Carolyn! Thanks for your comment on my Spark Page. You and your hubby and truly Penn State football fans. I have been to a few away Nebraska games, but nothing like you guys. That is amazing. Everyone in Nebraska is looking forward to the Big 10--can't wait for that first game! I'm hoping to get tickets to the Huskers' VB game versus Penn State this fall as well. The VB ticketw are even harder to get than FB tickets. Hubby & I are both employees at the Univ. of Nebr., as such we get 4 tickets to the football games, but the volleyball tickets have a long waiting list. However, this year I got the chance to split two season VB tickets with another couple, and grabbed it, so we will get to go to half the games, and hoping the Penn State game will be one of those. GO BIG RED!

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  4. Had to add, when Penn State does a "white out" it might be one of the most impressive scenes in college football! AWESOME!

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  5. Thanks so much! We are, shall we say, a bit crazy. I hope you get to see Penn State play Nebraska in volleyball. That should be awesome and a tough ticket here as well.

    As for this year's Nebraska game, we're hosting two diehard Penn State fans who live in Omaha Nebraska surrounded by Nebraska fans.

    I suspect there will be quite a few of their Nebraska friends showing up at our house or our tailgate. That's what happened the last time we played Nebraska here and it was a great deal of fun.

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