Warren High School Cornerback Seeks $5,000 for Childhood Cancer Fund

Mike Papouras aims to collect $5,000 in donations during the University School football game against Howland on Friday night. The junior cornerback organized the effort to support families currently battling childhood cancer.

The fundraiser is part of a partnership with the CK Foundation and carries the title Some Things are Bigger than Football. Players will wear gold laces and decals on the field, adopting the color that serves as the official symbol for childhood cancer awareness.

Papuras cites a 2023 event in Mentor as the inspiration for this year's initiative. On October 20, 2023, the Mentor High Cardinals honored Jack Sawyer, a 17-year-old fighting Ewing sarcoma, as their honorary captain. During that game, Euclid players wearing yellow presented Sawyer with a shirt bearing the same slogan used for this week's fundraiser.

Papuras was 13 years old when he witnessed the 2023 tribute. His father served as the superintendent of Euclid City Schools at the time. The experience changed how he viewed his own challenges. I was 13 at the time, and I realized, you know, there are kids who have to deal with things way harder than what I'm going through, he said. I would like to make it a little easier for them.

Sawyer passed away shortly after that 2023 game. This fall, Papuras wrote to Sawyer's mother, Dawn, to request her blessing for the new fundraiser. He told her he never met Jack but kept thinking about a kid his age who loved football and still found a way to lift others up. I want other kids to hear that too, he wrote.

Dawn Sawyer described the letter and the effort as an amazing gesture. She said she is deeply touched and proud that Jack's legacy continues. She plans to join Papuras on the field during the Gold Out game on Friday.

Support for Sawyer's memory is also appearing in Mentor. A Mentor High football player contacted Sawyer's mother to announce that the Cardinals will wear yellow socks on Friday against Euclid. The player said the seniors wanted to find a way to remember Jack. Dawn Sawyer credited Justin Hodge, a former Mentor student now at Miami University, with helping keep that legacy alive.