MORGANTOWN — Brian Reider was in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a 5K race last week, and the weather conditions were about what would you expect for an early spring day — mid-70s, sunny and beautiful in the southern beach town.
On April 7, Reider, a Bridgeport native, participated in another 5K, but this time, he ran across a snow covered Mountaineer Field on his way to the finish line at the north end zone.
It was a cold and snowy morning for the first “Walk the Talk with Dana,” a 5K benefit run with WVU head football coach Dana Holgorsen to help the Hoss Foundation and WVU Medicine Children’s hospital.
Reider took first place overall with a time of 17:37, which earned him a prize, jersey and photo opportunity with Holgorsen.
But there was someone else in the picture that made this 5K a little more important to Reider.
His young daughter receives treatment at WVU Medicine Children’s for a condition called hemihypertrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by overgrowth of one side of the body in comparison with the other, according to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
With hemihypertrophy (also known as hemihyperplasia) comes an increased risk for childhood cancer, so Reider’s daughter is constantly screened at the children’s hospital.
“I just really wanted to help the WVU children’s hospital with my daughter going there to get treatment,” he said. “It’s just something I really wanted to do.”
The run, originally supposed to be held in conjunction with the Gold-Blue spring game, was organized by Holgorsen and Hoss Foundation founder and former WVU quarterback Jeff Hostetler. Money raised will go toward the Hostetler Family Resource Center inside WVU Medicine Children’s.
Hundreds of runners, led by former WVU head coach Don Nehlen driving the pace car, took to the streets of Evansdale after starting outside of Milan Puskar Stadium. The group looped around to WVU President E. Gordon Gee’s house, on Riverview Drive, where Gee handed out coffee and hot chocolate.
Holgorsen, who makes this same 2.7-mile walk daily, hoped that could become a routine.
“Two things, we had security blocking off the roads, which is important that I usually don’t get, and we had hot chocolate and coffee at Dr. Gee’s house,” Holgorsen said. “I thank all of those guys for doing that and making this possible. I told Dr. Gee that I expect this every time that I walk. We need security, and we need coffee, and we need hot chocolate and maybe some Gatorade in the summer.”
Because the spring game was canceled due to impending wintry weather, the entire football team and coaching staff participated in the walk, as well.
Following a group picture of all participants at the conclusion of the race, kids could join the Li’l Mountaineer Kids Dash — running from one end zone to the other.
With the run’s success, Holgorsen sees this happening on an annual basis.
“It will, for sure. Jeff Hostetler approached me about six months ago, and I really thank him for doing that,” he said. “We kind of came up with this together, merging WVU football with the Hoss Foundation to benefit WVU Medicine Children’s. Coach Nehlen started this about 30 years ago, and we’re just trying to keep it going. This was a good event today, and I think this is what it’s going to be from now on.”
On Thursday, WVU announced the spring game was canceled for the first time in school history. While Holgorsen would have liked to play the game, he doesn’t think it hurts anything in the long run as far as football is concerned.
“I feel bad about our players, the fans, the families, I feel bad about that,” he said. “But quite honestly, spring games are not that important when it comes to trying to make your team better. Today was all about WVU Medicine Children’s. We try our best to be able to have a great relationship when it comes to that. [Hostetler] and I have merged together to try to make this day all about what’s really important, which are the sick kids of West Virginia.
“We’re going to try to do everything that we can to be able to make that
$175 million facility, which is going to be awesome. That’s what this today is all about, and that’s what it’ll continue to be about.”
