Westerkamp: Football Team Honored to Support Kids' Cause

Sign Up for Sunday's Road Race Here  

Nebraska's 2016 Football Roster

Randy York’s N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

Sunday morning’s Uplifting Athletes Road Race, which helps youth like Jack Hoffmanand countless others throughout the state and beyond, is one of the best values in Nebraska. Take that piece of advice straight from Keith Zimmer, who has worked for Nebraska Athletics for three decades and is the Huskers’ senior associate athletic director for Life Skills and the N Club.

“For $25 or $30, you get to race for a cure. You get a cool Uplifting Athletes’ t-shirt. You get a bracelet to commemorate the event, and you get incredible interaction with every member of the Nebraska football team,” Zimmer told me Monday. “All of that’s why our fourth annual road race is one of the best values in Nebraska.”

Sunday morning’s extensive interaction with Husker football players includes “the opportunity to get pictures, autographs and conversations,” Zimmer said, “plus the first 1,000 people who sign up to participate in some way get to attend a closed Nebraska football scrimmage just weeks before the season-opener.”

Mascot Lil' Red originally was created for Nebraska’s 1993 volleyball team to appeal to younger Husker fans.

Keith Zimmer: Road Race Participants Get to Meet and Talk to Husker Players

Who among football fans wouldn’t enjoy getting a sneak peek after everything else the Road Race provides? “You get to meet and talk to our new football players as well as the rest of the team,” said Zimmer, the administrative sponsor of Nebraska’s chapter of Uplifting Athletes.

A timeline separates each participant’s ability to receive extra perks for the $25 1-mile fun run and the $30 charge for the 5K with all proceeds benefitting national pediatric brain cancer research. The race begins and finishes on Stadium Drive just outside of the West side of Memorial Stadium. Individuals have until midnight Tuesday to register and receive the package of perks. Sign up here for the 2016 Nebraska Uplifting Athletes Road Race.

2015 All-America kick return specialist De'Mornay Pierson-El will be a popular autograph to get on Sunday.

Defensive Line Coach John Parrella, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green Will Speak 

Zimmer said John Parrella, Nebraska’s first-year defensive line coach, will represent the Huskers’ coaching staff Sunday. UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green also will attend the event with his wife Jane and help kick off the fourth annual road race that has raised about $120,000 for pediatric brain cancer in its first three years.

The N-Sider asked five Nebraska players about the importance of Sunday’s Road Race. They include Chris Weber, president of Nebraska’s chapter of Uplifting Athletes; Harrison Jordan, the organization’s vice president; and Bo Kitrell, the primary programmer for Uplifting Athletes.

Chris Weber: “This road race means a lot because of who it’s supporting and what it does – support kids who definitely deserve to be helped. The whole point of Uplifting Athletes is to raise money for rare diseases. We want to be champions and fight for their cause – pediatric brain cancer. As a football team, we can have an impact on kids in need. What they face hits hard and digs deep. You see what kids go through and what their families have gone through with treatments and hospital visits. You want them to know we’re in their corner and part of their support center. Our whole team wants the Road Race to be a big success for kids that have pediatric brain cancer. The more people we have, the more funds we raise. Our whole team will be there Sunday. We embrace Uplifting Athletes and the national surge of awareness that our team has built, not just here in Nebraska but across the country.”

Senior safety Nate Gerry is a proven team leader and well positioned for multiple individual accolades in 2016.

Jordan Westerkamp: Husker Football Team Honored to Support, Love Doing It

Jordan Westerkamp: “Uplifting Athletes has been around for a few years now and it has had such a positive impact on not only our community but the entire nation! Pediatric Brain Cancer awareness needs to continue to spread and the Road Race is just another fantastic opportunity to do this. We as a football team are honored to support and participate in this event and absolutely love doing it.”

Freedom Akinmoladun: “We support Uplifting Athletes every year as a team because it’s important for all of us to help. Everyone who can should come together Sunday and help kids in the circumstances they face every day. Jack has faced the difficulty. He and the kids around him motivate me every day that we go to work. Knowing how he fights a new battle every day, I always tell myself that yes, some things are tough out there on the field. But I can push my way through it just like these kids with pediatric brain cancer. All those kids push through what’s inside them and in front them, and so should we."

Nebraska's fourth annual Uplifting Athletes Fun Run/5K hopes to build on the $120,000 in funds already raised.

Bo Kitrell: Annual Road Race a Great Way to Connect with Younger Generation

Harrison Jordan: “Being part of Uplifting Athletes is what being a Nebraska football player is all about. I grew up idolizing Nebraska and always remembered seeing them do outreach events at schools, hospitals and retirement homes. Our team still does outreach events, but the addition of the Road Race event is another way to support our fans and individuals who are sick. I look forward to creating awareness and raising money for pediatric brain cancer. We have the greatest fans in the world and seeing their support and interacting with a lot of them during the road race is always a great time.”

Bo Kitrell: “The Uplifting Athletes Road Race means so much to the entire Nebraska football team and to me because it’s a way unlike any other to connect with fans. Over the past few years, I’ve had many pleasant conversations with many avid Husker fans before and after the race. This event is a great way to connect with the younger generation. As some of the kids' role-models, we're able to set positive examples as we encourage them to do their best. We even run alongside them in the one-mile run, if we can keep up. On top of all this, all the proceeds go to pediatric brain cancer research, a cause that’s near and dear to our heart.”

Editor’s note: Registrants can sign up after midnight CST on Tuesday, July 12, at the Lincoln Running Company for a $40 late registration fee for the 5K and $30 for the 1-Mile Fun Run. They also can sign up at the Lincoln Running Company until 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. Sponsors cannot guarantee shirt sizes for those who register late. Runners also can sign up on race day for a $40 registration fee for the 5K and $40 for the 1-Mile Fun Run at the check-in table, located near the start/finish line. Because of logistics, Saturday’s registrants will not be listed in the official results.

Send a comment to ryork@huskers.com (Please include city, state)

Follow Randy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RandyYorkNsider

N-Sider Archives