NU football senior charity roundball event at MCC April 20

A special night is planned Saturday, April 20, at the MCC Events Center.

Nebraska Cornhusker football seniors from the 2012 season will put their roundball skills on display. So will a bunch of "veteran" athletes representing a long list of high schools in the Gazette area.

Team Jack will be the special focus of the evening.

Nebraska football seniors from last fall will face the Southwest Nebraska Area Celebrity All-Stars in a charity basketball exhibition. The roundball special event will tip-off Saturday at 7 p.m. at the MCC Events Center on the McCook Community College campus on East M St. just north of Weiland Field.

The special event is sponsored by the McCook Optimist Club. Admission prices will be $4 each for adults, $1 each for students, with pre-school children admitted free of charge. Tickets are now available at several locations, including the Sports Shoppe, McCook National Bank and Sehnert's Bakery, all located on Norris Avenue in downtown McCook.

Tickets will also be available at the door Saturday night.

PROCEEDS will benefit the Team Jack Foundation, the organization spearheaded by family and friends of Jack Hoffman. Jack, a 7-year-old from Atkinson, Neb., is battling brain cancer. Jack has made national headlines recently with his thrilling 69-yard touchdown run during the Nebraska Spring Game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln April 6.

Husker fans will remember watching Jack and Isaiah Casillas take the Tunnel Walk with the Nebraska team before last year's NU-Wisconsin football game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Casillas, the McCook boy who also battled brain cancer, passed away last year.

One of the goals of Team Jack is to raise awareness of young cancer patients, especially those with pediatric brain cancer.

NEBRASKA FOOTBALL players participating in the McCook charity game are scheduled to hold an autograph session at halftime of Saturday's game at the MCC Events Center.

The Husker squad will be comprised of senior members of the 2012 Nebraska football team. Wauneta-Palisade High School graduate Taylor Dixon and former NU wide receiver Tim Marlowe are slated to play for the Husker team. Other former Huskers expected to participate include Jase Dean, Sean Fisher, KC Hyland, Matt Manninger, Conor McDermott, Brent Moravec, Courtney Osborne, Steven Osborne, P.J. Smith and Alonzo Whaley.

McCOOK OPTIMIST CLUB representative Bob Elder has compiled an impressive list of area college and high school coaches to comprise the Southwest Nebraska Celebrity roster.

Veteran Southwest High School coach Dennis Troester retired last spring after more than 40 years of service coaching girls volleyball and girls basketball. Troester has been coaxed out of retirement to serve as a celebrity coach for the Southwest All-Star squad.

Randy Geier, co-head coach of the 2012 six-man prep football state champion Wauneta-Palisade Broncos, will join Troester to guide the area all-star team as a celebrity coach.

Former McCook High School head boys basketball coach Tim Garcia, the McCook Elementary School principal, is also expected to participate, along with McCook Community College basketball coaches Brandon Lenhart and Kylie Rinehart.

Other celebrity team members include Josh Graves and Brett Webster of Cambridge, Derek Bantam and Scott Johnsen of Medicine Valley, Dave Kuhlen of Wauneta-Palisade, Mike Tines of Hitchcock County, Marty Hughes of Dundy County-Stratton, Matt Cox of Hayes Center, Kip Stephens of Arapahoe and Jeremy Epp of Southern Valley.

McCook ticket sponsors include the Coppermill Restaurant, Horizon Bank, McCook National Bank and MNB Investments, Stagemeyer & Smith and Valmont. Area ticket sponsors include Valley Bank & Trust and Harchelroad Motors of Wauneta, AmFirst Bank of Benkelman and Hayes Center, Circle B Motel of Benkelman plus MC Cell and HP Realty of Arapahoe.

For more information, contact Bob Elder at the Sports Shoppe on Norris Avenue in downtown McCook, phone (308) 345-4296.