On Saturday, Oct. 18, the Stanley family’s 11-month-old son, Grant, passed away due to a congenital heart disease. No one knew in the days before the game if Sam Stanley, the head football coach, was going to be there. Yet, on gameday, that Thursday, Oct. 23, he showed up to coach for his team. In response, the community showed up for him.
After the devastating announcement that Grant passed away, Shanna Beachy, mother of starting quarterback Ethan Beachy, created a GoFundMe to help the Stanleys with any hospital or funeral costs.
“When Grant passed, I asked the Stanley family if they would be willing to accept this type of a gift since the booster group wanted to get behind it,” Athletic Director Luke Ford said.
With over 500 donations and numerous articles and posts linking the GoFundMe, they have raised $53,000 (as of the publication of this article). As more money gets donated each day, it shows how this community has come together for people in need. Any money left over after covering expenses related to the funeral and medical expenses will be donated in Grant’s name to various organizations that help families dealing with pediatric congenital heart disease.
For the theme, the student body added purple to the originally-planned theme of pink for breast cancer awareness. The senior painters put purple butterflies on their stomachs to signify the loss of a twin, and, throughout the field, purple covered players’ arms, cleats, legs, and helmets.
Purple was not the only thing the community did to support. Both teams, Elkhorn North and Bennington, made signs to put in front of their student sections. The Wolves’ read, “We love and support the Stanleys,” and the Badgers’ wrote, “The Badgers stand with the Stanley family.”
Some TikTok videos about the game spread, ranging in views from 200,000 to 9.8 million.
The game got mass attention especially because it was the Wolves’ first time beating their rival in school history.
In the last two seconds of the fourth quarter, Beachy scored a touchdown to win the game, yelling “That’s for Grant.”
