Blackhawks, Rizzo items expected to provide boost to Huntley relay
A hockey stick signed by the 2016 Chicago Blackhawks and a baseball bat bearing Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo's autograph will be raffled over the weekend at the Relay For Life of Huntley/Marengo.
Attendees can win sports memorabilia from major championships won by Chicago sports teams and of prominent players during the relay June 3 and 4.
The event has generated more than $698,000 for cancer research in 17 years and draws anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people annually. Participation and fundraising this year is expected to exceed previous events because of the unique raffle prizes.
The autographed Blackhawks stick alone is worth $1,800, said Bob Ibach of Huntley, an event volunteer.
"We've never had this kind of raffle before," said Ibach, a cancer survivor who's seen several family members die or be impacted as a result of cancer.
Ibach, a former Cubs PR director and sports writer for The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, will emcee the event and announce the results of the raffle drawing at 10 p.m. Saturday. The items were donated by his contacts acquired over a 44-year sports career, he said.
The price is $10 for a chance to win the Blackhawks stick. Other items will be raffled off at $10 for three tickets or $25 for eight tickets.
"We have four commemorative baseballs that are from the three Cubs World Series wins in 1907, 1908, and 2016, and a Wrigley Field history baseball," Ibach said. "You get the entire set of all four balls. They come inside a display case."
Prizes include Super Bowl LI footballs from the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons, NCAA Final Four basketballs from the North Carolina and South Carolina teams, two box seats each for Cubs, White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers games, and college football championship footballs from Clemson and Alabama.
A framed picture of the 2005 White Sox World Series win, a framed picture of the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, and an 18-inch-by-24-inch aerial photo of Wrigley Field during the 2016 playoffs by photographer Michael Gustafson are among the prizes.
The event kicks off with 22 cancer survivors each walking one-tenth of a mile, handing off Rizzo's bat like a baton in a 2.2-mile relay starting at 4:30 p.m. Saturday from Haligus Road across from Centegra Hospital. Survivors will walk west along Algonquin Road to Church Street, then south to Main Street through downtown Huntley until they reach Huntley Park District offices off Route 47. The opening ceremony is at 6 p.m. at neighboring Deicke Park. Participants, including cancer survivors and those who have lost family members to cancer, will walk around a track all night long.
"I anticipate this year being one of our best years ever," Ibach said.