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Grand Haven football players wear purple jerseys during the 2021 Bucs Pride game. This year’s Bucs Pride contest takes place Friday night against East Kentwood.

Sharon Yonker drives a golf cart at the front of the Bucs Pride survivors parade during a previous Bucs Pride night.

Grand Haven football players wear purple jerseys during the 2021 Bucs Pride game. This year’s Bucs Pride contest takes place Friday night against East Kentwood.

More than a decade ago, Grand Haven High School decided to host a special football game during which the players would wear purple jerseys, with the goal of raising money to be donated to the American Cancer Society.

After that inaugural game, they took a year off, and a group including former Buccaneers’ athletic directors Robin Bye and Jack Provencal, along with Sharon Yonker, Jackie Vandenberg and Marcie Lynch, traveled to Lowell to learn about that school’s Pink Arrow Pride game.

“That’s when we decided we wanted to keep all of our money local,” said Yonker, who continues to help organize what are now called Bucs Pride games. “We want our kids to realize where the money is going.”

The latest Bucs Pride football game will take place this Friday night at Buccaneer Stadium, as Grand Haven hosts East Kentwood. Kickoff is 7 p.m., but the festivities begin earlier in the evening.

A Parade of Survivors will take place at 6:15 p.m.

“We want anybody who has lost somebody to cancer, or who’s going through cancer right now, to participate,” Yonker said. “We’ll have a section reserved for them to watch the game.”

During the game, players will wear special purple jerseys, bearing the name of someone who has battled cancer.

“The players can keep their jersey and put the name on the back that they would like – somebody they know,” Yonker said. “This year, there were a few who didn’t want the jersey, so I found sponsors for those. Sometimes the sponsors will let the player put a name on it, or sometimes the sponsor wants the jersey and they chose the name.”

Following the game, the players and those being honored gather on the field, and the players have the opportunity to present their game-worn jerseys to those whose name is on the shirt.

Sharon Yonker drives a golf cart at the front of the Bucs Pride survivors parade during a previous Bucs Pride night.

Bucs Pride has expanded beyond football, and now most athletic teams at GHHS host a Bucs Pride night. There are also off-campus fundraisers, including a Bucs Pride night at the Mulligan’s Hollow Ski Bowl this past winter.

Bucs Pride T-shirts are sold each year as well; Yonker will be selling shirts in the Community Room at Buccaneer Stadium from 3-6 p.m. today and Thursday.

Money raised during Bucs Pride events helps provide care baskets for people who are diagnosed with cancer.

“We’ve added Dune Dollars along with everything else in the basket,” Yonker said. “Everything included is the result of someone telling us we should include it – a book, blanket, adult coloring books and colored pencils, a note book, flashlight, water bottle, lunch bag.”

Yonker said 50-75 care baskets are delivered each year.

She urges anyone who knows of someone diagnosed with cancer to call her at 616-402-1443.

“We can’t do it without people telling us,” she said. “It’s all word of mouth.”

Money also goes to Bluebird Cancer Retreats, a nonprofit organization that hosts weekend getaways for those battling cancer.

For more information, search “Bucs Pride” on Facebook.

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