Oregon Ducks Release Cancer Yellow 'Heroes' Uniforms Designed By Dan Lanning's Family: PHOTOS
The Oregon Ducks football team released it's newest uniforms of the 2024 College Football season and the special meaning behind them.
The bright yellow "Heroes" uniform combination is designed by Oregon coach Dan Lanning and his family. The uniforms are designed to represent triumph and to show support for those who have battled cancer. Oregon and coach Lanning want to "stomp out cancer" and raise awareness in the fight for the cure.
Coach Lanning's wife, Sauphia, completed treatment for bone cancer in 2017.
The Ducks will wear the Heroes Uniform on Friday, Oct. 4 against Michigan State in Autzen Stadium.
"This one is super, super important," said Oregon Football Equipment Administrator Kenny Farr in a video released by Oregon Football. "So obviously you guys know Coach Lanning's wife, Sauphia, is a cancer survivor. We had this idea that we wanted her to design a uniform."
"We've done so many cancer awareness games over the years that that one with her beating cancer, we hit close to home. We kind of tasked her and our boys to design a new uniform. We've done a few of these, but this is one of my favorite ones we've ever done just because I know the story and I know the use. I'm drawing drawings on napkins on the Holiday Bowl airplane," Farr continued.
The main color of yellow is acknowledgment of Sauphia's battle with osteosarcoma. The uniforms also feature a yellow ribbon, which is something Sauphia sketched herself. More features of the uniforms include an ice cream cone (which is how the family would treat themselves after her cancer treatments) and a molecular structure on the background (in reference to her "red devil" chemotherapy treatment.)
"So I was on a plane and I started sketching it out. It just kind of came to me," Sauphia Lanning said. "One really cool thing that I'm so glad was kept was the medical symbol that's put on
for the doctors and the nurses, the true heroes."
Sauphia is seven years cancer free.
"I always get excited about those games and those uniforms because it's a bigger cause than just football," Farr continued. "And with it being so close to the first lady of Oregon football, this one's extra special."
Watch the powerful video below.
Farr, who joined the Ducks in 2008, has a history of innovative uniform elements, including the heat-reactive color-changing cleats introduced in 2023. The Uniform Committee is another example of Farr's forward-thinking approach. The committee features players such as Traeshon Holden,Jeffery Bassa ,Tez Johnson and Marcus Harper.
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