Just off the Weber State University campus, on Harrison Blvd., a man far more familiar with giving orders was taking them. Men’s basketball head coach Randy Rahe spent several hours on Jan. 23 working the line at Subway, making sandwiches and raising money for charity.
Coaches vs. Cancer is a joint effort between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches; the collaboration raises money to find a cure for cancer.
Rahe said, “It’s obviously a great cause and anything we can do to help out, we want to make sure that we do it and we love helping out any way we can.”
The American Cancer Society was represented at the Subway by Cidnie Christensen, their director of community development.
“This is a great way to uniquely bring some awareness around cancer in Utah, what cancer patients go through, as well as help us raise some money to help those patients,” Christensen said.
“The money raised from our Coaches vs. Cancer campaign can go to help fund research, help people get rides to treatment, help them spend nights in our Hope Lodge in Salt Lake City,” Christensen said.
This is the second year Rahe has worked with Coaches vs. Cancer, along with the other five men’s basketball coaches in the state of Utah. A week prior to Rahe was Todd Simon at SUU’s Subway, and next week, BYU’s coach Dave Rose and UVU’s Mark Pope will be working together in Orem.
University of Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak and Utah State’s Tim Duryea were unable to work at their respective Subways because of scheduling conflicts.
Christensen said, “This is our second year on the campaign, all of our coaches came back this year so we’re super excited to have them.”
Rahe was a natural as a sandwich artist, laughing and joking with every customer that came down the line — including several of his players.
Rahe said, “There’s a couple guys that came in that need to watch what they eat, so I made sure to leave less meat, less cheese, more veggies.”
While he looked the part making sandwiches, he was less than confident in his abilities.
Rahe said, “I’m fooling them. I just go really fast and fool them, and nobody knows when I screw up.”
Weber State is one of many schools that works with Coaches vs. Cancer and Subway. Coaches from coast to coast will tie on aprons and work with their local Subway.
Christensen said, “Subway’s been great. It’s awesome to have a partner like this that’s statewide, that for the three to four weeks of the campaign are focusing on something like this and getting, not just their employees involved, but also their customers as well.”
This is the opening act for Coaches vs. Cancer, as they will be holding their Suits & Sneakers program until the end of January.
Coaches from over 50 schools across the country will coach games in specialty sneakers and ties, which will be auctioned on eBay by the American Cancer Society.
