Collegiate Times

Few people know the man who started the phenomenon that is American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. His name was Dr. Gordy Klatt, a surgeon hailing from Tacoma, Wash. who harbored a passion for marathons.

In May 1985, he ran for 24 hours and raised $27,000 to fight cancer. He circled the track of Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound until he had run more than an astounding 83 miles. The run was named the City of Destiny Classic 24-Hour Run Against Cancer - it would later become known as Relay For Life.

It was his friends and family who donated $25 to walk around the track with him for 30 minutes. Within the next year, with the help of Pat Flynn, known as the "Mother or Relay," 19 teams participated in the first-ever team Relay in the Stadium Bowl and raised $33,000. And just like that, a national movement was born.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Klatt's historic run, and the American Cancer Society will honor his work by creating a unique Gordy Klatt Luminaria.

This year's Relay at Virginia Tech will be marked with a distinguished visitor. Vice President of Relay For Life Reuel Johnson, chose Tech as one of the colleges he will be visiting this year.

"We've asked communities all across the country to pay special tribute in their own way," Johnson said, "All year long volunteers have been looking for that '25th' hour that they can find in the month where they can find a little time to contribute to fight cancer in a way that is personal to them."

Messages will be written on the bags and they will all be put on display in Tacoma, and later will be shown to Klatt.

"I try to visit lots of different Relays both on college campuses and local communities around the country and I have never been to Virginia Tech," Johnson said, "It is also looking like Virginia Tech's Relay will be the largest in the country this year, and I know of all of the success that the program has had, so I put it on the calendar."

The main goal of Relay For Life is to promote a sense of owning a cause in each community. A major way of allowing communities to take the reins is to allow them to choose their own sites, deciding what spot best defines their community. For Klatt, it was the track in the heart of his beloved Tacoma; for Tech it is the Drillfield, the lifeline of the campus.

Relay "certainly is our largest source of revenue in the organization, but it is more than just fundraising," Johnson said, "It's about how volunteers really engage people on the fight against cancer within their communities."

The focus on community in RFL is a major part of its goal of unifying people under one cause. The ACS brings together more than 3.5 million people every year in communities across the nation and has raised over $1.7 billion to fight the disease and aid those living with it.

"The whole community organization side of the American Cancer Society is really the heart and soul of what Relay is," Johnson said.

"You probably will have the largest, as far as numbers of teams, participants and dollars raised - Relay in the country this year," Johnson said, "But on average there are a lot of college campuses that are only a couple thousand students... So clearly they are on a much smaller scale, but on average there are 5,100 smaller Relays throughout the country. And on average those raise about $89,000 to $90,000, which is sizable, but the value of Relay is that there are 5,100 of them."

RFL is now located in more than 600 communities in 21 different countries according to the ACS. In 2009 Relay For Life volunteers will organize all-night events in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Taiwan, Malaysia and many other countries.  

"There's a network of cancer organizations and the best ideas get shared at meetings and then sometime in the mid to late '90s, the American Cancer Society examined places like Canada, Australia and the UK. They heard about Relay and were intrigued by it," Johnson said. "We have created a network of countries throughout the world who have adopted Relay. Participating in a meaningful event seems to be universal."