AFCA To Support the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation
July 18, 2023
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) has partnered with The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation to help bring awareness and grow the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative. The AFCA will help spread the word to its 11,000-plus members of the need for blood stem cell and bone marrow donor registration.
“We are honored and excited to team up with the AFCA to support our mission of saving lives through the great game of college football,” Andy Talley, ATBMF Founder said. “Our Get in the Game. Save a Life. (GITG) program is the most successful donor recruitment program in the country thanks to the commitment and passion of our GITG coaches and players. We recently celebrated our life-saving 1,000th donor and hope to increase this number exponentially with the help of the 11,000-plus AFCA members.”
In 1992, former Villanova and College Football Hall of Fame head coach Andy Talley learned of the need to add more donors to the marrow donor registration. He organized his first on-campus donor drive that year, registering over 200 student-athletes, coaches, and members of the campus community. Talley continued his donor drives at Villanova and other Philadelphia area universities, then in 2008, he received a call from Be The Match®, an organization operated by the National Marrow Donor Program. They wanted to partner with Coach Talley and expand his efforts. Together they formed the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative.
“I have seen the impact first-hand what being a registered donor means,” Todd Knight, head coach at Ouachita Baptist University and 2023 AFCA President said. “The ‘Get in the Game. Save a Life,’ donor recruitment initiative is something that all members of the AFCA can get behind to help save lives. Not only is Coach Talley one of our own in the football coaching fraternity, but the work he has done with his foundation to get more donors makes him a hero in my book.”
In 2010, Coach Talley founded The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation with the dream of having every college in the country participate in the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative. In its 15th season, Coach Talley has enlisted the participation of more than 250 college head football coaches to participate in GITG. Each commitment involves the coach having his team host donor registration drives on campus. During the drive, football players span the campus, educating and recruiting peers to participate in a cheek swab test, thereby registering themselves as potential blood stem cell/bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry®.
Each year, tens of thousands of patients are diagnosed with blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia and in desperate need of a transplant. The chance of a patient finding a family related donor is only 30%, leaving most to rely on an anonymous donor from a registry such as Be The Match®.
Since 2008, GITG registry drives have been responsible for adding more than 200,000 potential blood stem cell/marrow donors to the registry. More importantly, there have been more than 1,000 transplants that occurred with GITG donors. The ideal profile of a donor is a young male between the ages of 18 and 24. That is the GITG niche which is why it has become one of the most successful donor recruitment programs in the country.
There is also an urgent need for donors of diverse ethnicity. A patient of African-American descent has only a 29% chance of finding a match compared to 79% for a Caucasian. Patients of Asian descent have only a 41% chance, and Hispanic and Native Americans only 46% and 57%, respectively.
“The AFCA is thrilled to partner with The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and his ‘Get in the Game. Save a Life’ donor recruitment initiative,” AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry said. “We can help Coach Talley spread the word to our membership about the importance of expanding the number of blood stem cell/bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry®.”
For more information about The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and it’s “Get in the Game. Save a Life” initiative, visit www.talleybonemarrow.org. For more information about the AFCA, visit www.afca.com.
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
« « Previous PostNext Post » »
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) has partnered with The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation to help bring awareness and grow the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative. The AFCA will help spread the word to its 11,000-plus members of the need for blood stem cell and bone marrow donor registration.
“We are honored and excited to team up with the AFCA to support our mission of saving lives through the great game of college football,” Andy Talley, ATBMF Founder said. “Our Get in the Game. Save a Life. (GITG) program is the most successful donor recruitment program in the country thanks to the commitment and passion of our GITG coaches and players. We recently celebrated our life-saving 1,000th donor and hope to increase this number exponentially with the help of the 11,000-plus AFCA members.”
In 1992, former Villanova and College Football Hall of Fame head coach Andy Talley learned of the need to add more donors to the marrow donor registration. He organized his first on-campus donor drive that year, registering over 200 student-athletes, coaches, and members of the campus community. Talley continued his donor drives at Villanova and other Philadelphia area universities, then in 2008, he received a call from Be The Match®, an organization operated by the National Marrow Donor Program. They wanted to partner with Coach Talley and expand his efforts. Together they formed the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative.
“I have seen the impact first-hand what being a registered donor means,” Todd Knight, head coach at Ouachita Baptist University and 2023 AFCA President said. “The ‘Get in the Game. Save a Life,’ donor recruitment initiative is something that all members of the AFCA can get behind to help save lives. Not only is Coach Talley one of our own in the football coaching fraternity, but the work he has done with his foundation to get more donors makes him a hero in my book.”
In 2010, Coach Talley founded The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation with the dream of having every college in the country participate in the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” donor recruitment initiative. In its 15th season, Coach Talley has enlisted the participation of more than 250 college head football coaches to participate in GITG. Each commitment involves the coach having his team host donor registration drives on campus. During the drive, football players span the campus, educating and recruiting peers to participate in a cheek swab test, thereby registering themselves as potential blood stem cell/bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry®.
Each year, tens of thousands of patients are diagnosed with blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia and in desperate need of a transplant. The chance of a patient finding a family related donor is only 30%, leaving most to rely on an anonymous donor from a registry such as Be The Match®.
Since 2008, GITG registry drives have been responsible for adding more than 200,000 potential blood stem cell/marrow donors to the registry. More importantly, there have been more than 1,000 transplants that occurred with GITG donors. The ideal profile of a donor is a young male between the ages of 18 and 24. That is the GITG niche which is why it has become one of the most successful donor recruitment programs in the country.
There is also an urgent need for donors of diverse ethnicity. A patient of African-American descent has only a 29% chance of finding a match compared to 79% for a Caucasian. Patients of Asian descent have only a 41% chance, and Hispanic and Native Americans only 46% and 57%, respectively.
“The AFCA is thrilled to partner with The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and his ‘Get in the Game. Save a Life’ donor recruitment initiative,” AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry said. “We can help Coach Talley spread the word to our membership about the importance of expanding the number of blood stem cell/bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry®.”
For more information about The Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and it’s “Get in the Game. Save a Life” initiative, visit www.talleybonemarrow.org. For more information about the AFCA, visit www.afca.com.
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
