UAB To Honor Children’s Harbor At Homecoming Game

BIRMINGHAM, AL - For the second year in a row, the UAB football team will honor and memorialize the children and families served by Children's Harbor by wearing the names of patients on the back of their gray jerseys during the Homecoming game against North Texas on Oct. 20.

The UAB football team adopted Children's Harbor as one of their community charities in 2016 and have since made regular trips to the hospital to build relationships and encourage patients.

"We talk a lot about playing for the name on the front of the jersey," head coach Bill Clark said. "This is our chance to play for the name on the back. Last year our players found out about each one of these children, who they are and what their story is. They really developed a relationship with that family."

See the complete list of the children being honored this weekend:

In 2017, UAB wore the Children's Harbor jerseys for Homecoming against Louisiana Tech which ended with a last-second blocked field goal by Stacy Keely, preserving the Blazers' 23-22 win. Like last year, the 100 game jerseys will be presented to each child and their family a few weeks after the game. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Patch morning newsletter.)

"Something we've said since we've come back is playing for more than ourselves," Clark said. "Our community has gotten bigger and one of the things I love to hear when I'm out is 'thanks for believing in us,' and really it's the other way around. Birmingham believed in us. We're the beneficiaries and we're very humbled to be a part of it."

Children's Harbor serves seriously ill children and their families through unique, no-cost services at the Family Center inside the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children in Birmingham and at the camp facility at Lake Martin in Alexander City, Ala. "I want to say a huge and enthusiastic thank you to Coach Clark, the entire coaching staff and the players especially as they walk out onto that field with the names of 100 of our children on the backs of their jerseys to lift them up," Children's Harbor CEO Myrle Grate said.

Quarterback A.J. Erdely will be wearing the name of former patient Jackson Thomas, known to his family as Jack-Jack, for Saturday's game. Jackson's mother, Tracey Thomas, spoke on Monday during the jersey announcement about her son, their relationship with Children's Harbor and what the special jerseys means to all of the families involved.

"When we were informed that the UAB football team wanted to honor some of the children who have been served through Children's Hospital and Children's Harbor, and that our Jackson would be included, our family was very humbled," Thomas said. Jackson Thomas passed away at the age of five from Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata.

"We're thankful for these players, these coaches, this athletic program and for being a light to so many and allowing our family and so many others to be a part of your special Homecoming game," Thomas said. "It will be a bright spot in our lives long after the lights go out that night."

Photo courtesy of UAB