Rams Save Lives

Game day location: Irwin Center, San Francisco

Team: Gung-ho CCSF football players

Game plan
Work with BCP account representative
Recruit “team players”
Distribute materials on technique
Educate players on their game day positions

Warm-up session
Pizza, pasta and salad, lots of water
Fill out donor history questionnaire

On Wednesday, March 17th, Coach George Rush led his team of football players from City College San Francisco (CCSF) to the Irwin Center. The goal? To help save lives.

“I believe giving back is a privilege,” said Coach Rush, who’s in his 34th year as head coach at CCSF. “My wife and I have always donated blood, and this year we thought it would be great for the team to save lives through blood donation as well. We hope to make it a regular blood drive.”

Many like Offensive Line, Jeff Ferrier, 19, were first-time blood donors. And many like him, also knew someone who had received blood. “I knew a kid on the football team who had a blood transfusion,” said Jeff, a freshman.

Free Safety Deshon Marman, 19, also knew someone who received blood – his 25-year-old cousin. “He was involved in a car accident,” said Deshon, who will be a sophomore next year. “And he received blood transfusions which saved his life. Although he was paralyzed, through physical therapy he began to regain strength in his arms and is doing better today.”

Deshon began donating blood when he was a student at Archbishop Riordan High School, San Francisco. “They made donating blood sound cool there,” said Deshon, who wants to be a counselor or teacher in the future.

First-time blood donor and also middle line backer, Vaughn Boatner, 20, said, “The idea was scary, but it’s not bad at all. I would give blood again.”

And the winning score for the day: 18 whole blood donations, 10 double reds.

Total number of lives saved: 114 (one pint saves three lives)

Go Rams!

And thank you to all of our student blood donors and blood drive coordinators for the colleges that help us save lives here in Northern California. Happy Spring Break!

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