COLFAX, Wash. – Colfax’s basketball gym is usually packed with royal blue and gold, but on Sunday night, it was all purple.
“My phone has been ringing off this week with people wanting to help, wanting to reach out, wanting to be a part of supporting Reece and his family,” said event planner and ASP Director Stacy Aune.
“Everyone knows Reece,” a Jenkin family friend Brandy Brown said. “He’s been around for so many years and coached for so long, that I just think that this isn’t a surprise that everyone’s stepping up.”
It’s a celebration of head coach Reece Jenkin as he fights back pancreatic cancer, still coaching his Bulldogs.
“Reece has been kinda like a second dad to me since I’ve grown up,” Colfax senior basketball player Gunner Brown said. “He’s been my coach since about 3rd grade and Adrik’s been my teammate forever, and it’s just surreal to see this community.”
The school put on this event with t-shirts that read: ‘All for coach Jenkin… Bulldogs fight together.’
“We knew this was going to be big, not only in our community, but the entire eastern Washington/Idaho, all over the place,” Aune said. “Because that Jenkin family touches many lives in our region.”
And she means everyone, yes, even archrival Liberty Lancers fans clad in purple just the same, One color for everyone in the stands.
“There’s nothing like living in a small town,” Liberty fan Demi Hrytzik said. “We all come together all the time for things like this, everybody has your back. So, it doesn’t matter what your community is. And so, Colfax is our family.”
And while the scoreboard didn’t matter as much, Colfax didn’t hold back. They beat their rivals by 53 points to win their 12th-straight, the state champions’ coach’s team still perfect.
“It’s hard not to be in an environment like this and go out there with your team and go to battle against a team you want to beat,” Gunner said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions, and we just gotta play through that, and I think we did pretty good at that today.”
Jenkin’s battle continues with loved ones at every step, counting every day as a blessing.
“We would stay up all night, every single day, if it meant to take a burden off of their family in any way we can,” Brandy said.
The link to support the Jenkin family is listed here below.
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