Miami football hosts Light the Night at Yager

At 7 p.m on Thursday, Oct. 24, the Miami University football team hosts its annual Light the Night walk to raise awareness for the fight against cancer.

Miami first attended Light the Night in Cincinnati in 2015. The RedHawks had adopted Liam Kaufman, a five-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) earlier in the year, as part of Team IMPACT, a program that matches children with serious illnesses with college sports teams.

The team signed Liam to the roster and brought him to practice and games. The RedHawks hadn’t heard about Light the Night previously, but they attended the event with Liam.

The Leukemia Lymphoma Society (LLS) sponsors Light the Night as one of many fundraising events throughout the year. When the RedHawks attended in 2015, they were instantly affected by what they saw.

For Matt Yoches, the director of football operations, this is an event that Miami needs to do every year.

“It’s very impactful, [and] it’s something that really hits home to just about anybody,” Yoches said. “The LLS does a tremendous amount of fundraising for cancer research and [supports] families who are going through cancer. [We said,] ‘This is a really good foundation. They do a really good job.’”

The RedHawks posted losing records nearly every season in the late 2010s. For head coach Chuck Martin, attending Light the Night gives him a good chance to reflect on how lucky he is.

“I remember the first year we went, we were 0-6,” Martin said. “We showed up there, and a couple of alums were there and said, ‘I can’t believe you showed up here being 0-6.’ My point was, ‘So you only do good things when your life’s good?’”

The RedHawks returned to Cincinnati every year from 2015-19. After the pandemic, the team needed to decide if they wanted to go in 2021.

Yoches, who coordinated the yearly trip, chose to host a Light the Night in Oxford instead.

He wanted to simulate the Cincinnati event to the best of his abilities. Through the team’s affiliation with the Cincinnati event, the local LLS chapter provided the team with the lanterns. Yoches also invited cancer patients and survivors to share their experiences.

For him, putting the event on was the least he could do after hearing these speeches.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

“We have a facility, we have a video board, we have a sound system: I don’t have to rent anything, pay for anything or spend money,” Yoches said. “Anything that we raise goes right to LLS.”

Each player is asked to raise $25 for LLS. With 115 guys on the roster, Miami expects to raise about $3,000 each year but consistently raises upwards of $10,000.

The tagline for Light the Night is: “Be the light that cures cancer.” Towards the end of the night, attendees light a colored lantern: white for cancer patients and survivors, red for supporters and caregivers and yellow for remembering lost ones.

Cancer is a personal subject matter for almost everybody. For Martin, supporting Light the Night and LLS is a no-brainer.

“When you say it, [players] immediately think of their uncle or their aunt, or their grandma who’s gone,” Martin said. “This is not a hard sell because it does affect everyone. If it hasn’t affected you yet, go and thank God tonight that you haven’t had cancer in your life so far, because the rest of us have.”

The night is for supporting cancer awareness, but it also gives children who have been diagnosed with leukemia or another serious illness one night to forget about their troubles and have fun. The RedHawks end the night by doing what they usually do with the kids: playing football.

“If there’s no reason you wouldn’t do it, why wouldn’t you do it then?” Martin said. “Why wouldn’t you go support? You see the kids run around, they meet these guys. It’s been unbelievable. It’s a small thing for us to spend an hour one night, [but] it makes these kids’ lives.”

Light the Night will begin after sund. at Yager Stadium. Martin implores everyone in the Oxford community to show up and support those struggling with something many have seen or will see in life.

“This is not a Miami football thing, this is a life thing,” Martin said. “If it’s important to you, we’d love to have you. You light the candles, you remember either somebody you lost or somebody who’s fighting it, and you make sure they know that you’re thinking about them and supporting them, which is so important for anybody going through that, to know that people care.”

@thekethan04

babukc2@miamioh.edu