Mark Stoops will wear shoes designed by cancer survivor vs. NIU

MrsTylerKSR

At each home game, Kentucky Football honors a patient from the Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH) as the “Lift Them Up” Kid of the Game, inviting them to practice and having them lead the team in the Cat Walk in a specially-designed push cart. This week, Mark Stoops will go a step further, sporting a pair of shoes designed by 12-year-old cancer survivor and former KCH patient Ella Woodford and Billy Hobbs of True Blue Customs.

The shoes will be auctioned off later to raise money for pediatric cancer research. This week, Ella stopped by practice to give Stoops the shoes, a very cool moment that you can see in a video below by UK HealthCare. As Ella says, the blue in the shoes represents Kentucky and the yellow is for pediatric cancer.

Ella beat cancer with the help of @KCHKids. The young artist and UK fan is now helping other kids do the same.@UKCoachStoops will wear a pair of shoes she designed on Saturday. They'll later be auctioned to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. #BBN https://t.co/di47OQvPl8 pic.twitter.com/lHS2LUCYdH
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 23, 2022

Well done, everyone involved.

This week’s “Lift Them Up” Kid of the Game is Asher Woods, who has something in common with his favorite player, senior offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey. Both survived open-heart surgery and will strut their stuff at the Cat Walk this week.

Two days after he was born, Asher Woods was diagnosed with aortic valve stenosis, a congenital heart defect. He underwent open-heart surgery to replace his aortic and pulmonary valves at @KCHKids in April.

Asher, now 13, can't wait to meet his favorite UK player: @Work_Horse68. pic.twitter.com/sSCu2TmWzI
— UK HealthCare (@UK_HealthCare) September 22, 2022

Stoops named honorary head coach of the 2022 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team

If you missed it earlier this week, Stoops was named honorary head coach of the 2022 Good Works Team for his work with the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Six of Stoops’ players have made the team, including Horsey.

Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

“It is an honor to be the honorary coach of the Good Works Team. I’ve always just tried to do my part, put my head down and go to work. There’s enough to do to keep me extremely busy, but I also like giving back. I’ve attached myself to the UK Children’s Hospital really since day one,” Stoops said Monday. “It’s an honor for us to be a part of that and to help in any way we can.”

Stoops’ annual “Coaches for the Kids” fundraiser, initially started by Rich Brooks, has raised over $2 million for the KCH since 2013. In March Stoops and the Coaches for Kids Foundation announced $1.15 million to the KCH to fund three different projects: Zero Suicide Academy, LOCUS home monitoring technology for medically-complex infants, and the purchase and operation of a mobile clinic to serve pediatric patients in rural areas of Kentucky.

The SEC leads all conferences with 82 selections to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team since it began in 1992. Georgia is in first place with 22 honorees to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, followed by Kentucky with 17 honorees.

Kentucky’s AFCA “Good Works Team” members: