Over the past 4 years fundraising, galas hosted by Geno and Kathy Auriemma have raised over 1.4 million dollars to fight cancer.

In October 2003, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma and his wife Kathy teamed up with the American Cancer Society to host the first “Hoops for Hope” Gala. The evening of dinner, dancing, live and silent auctions was to benefit the American Cancer Society. The Hoops for Hope Gala raised over 1.5 million dollars in 4 years.

Expanding on the success of “Hoops for Hope” and following the lead of fellow coaches Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Phil Martelli of St. Joseph’s, the Auriemmas looked for a way to involve our Connecticut High School athletes in supporting the American Cancer Society and Coaches vs. Cancer.

The “Coaches vs. Cancer Connecticut High School Student Initiative” was founded by a small group of dedicated volunteers in October of 2005. Our rookie season (2005-06) saw athletic directors and coaches from over twenty schools participate in a wide variety of FUNdraising projects, which donated over $17,000 to the American Cancer Society. Basketball teams from both large and small schools joined in making contributions ranging from $300 to $3,000. In fact, once word of the Initiative spread, other sports, as well as middle and elementary school students, joined our team.

Our sophomore season (2006-2007) brought a new name, the “Coaches vs. Cancer Connecticut Student Initiative”, to reflect the expanding range of both students and sports participating in our fundraising efforts. In our second year we succeeded in raising over $27,000 – a 63% increase in just one year! We also continued to add more schools to the Initiative – in fact, the ECC Conference participated at a conference-wide level, with their referees donating their salary from one game to the team.