DAYTON- An exhibition game between the Dayton Flyers and Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball teams will cap a multi-day community engagement event advocating for mental health and suicide prevention among adolescents and young adults.
The NCAA-sanctioned charity game will be played on Sunday, October 22 at UD Arena. Game time will be announced later. All proceeds from the game and surrounding events will benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio.
The public is invited to a town hall meeting on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20 with the goal of helping individuals and families find the mental health care that is right for them and their loved ones. The event will include discussions and presentations attended by Anthony and Chris Grant, as well as a variety of stakeholders. A more detailed program will be announced in early fall and will feature local and national mental health experts, student-athletes, coaches and other subject matter experts from each university.
Dayton coach Anthony Grant and his wife Chris are working to “make sense of the pain” caused by their family’s tragedy by helping mothers, fathers, teens and young adults find resources necessary to help them. Their daughter Jay died last year at the age of 20 due to mental illness.
“First of all, I want to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to Coach (Chris) Holtmann, Athletic Director Gene Smith and the Ohio State community for participating in this special event,” he said. Coach Grant said. “They have been incredibly gracious partners and we are grateful for their participation. Most importantly, the game is a collaborative effort to raise awareness, generate conversations and increase access to mental health services in Ohio and throughout the country.”
“We look forward to partnering with Anthony and Dayton for this exhibition game at UD Arena,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “Anthony’s willingness to share his family’s story in hopes of helping others is inspiring and we appreciate him including Ohio State in this event. We are excited that proceeds will benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and other local organizations.”
“We can’t think of a better way to support Coach Grant and his family than to help host this event to reduce the sigma around mental health and suicide prevention,” added the vice president. and UD Athletic Director Neil Sullivan. “We look forward to sharing resources with the community and hopefully helping many more families.”
Tickets for exhibition games will be offered as part of Dayton’s season ticket package, with single-game tickets announced for sale as they become available. The town hall is free and open to the public.
Click here to learn more and support the Suicide Prevention Foundation of Ohio
Click here to learn more and support the National Alliance on Mental Illness
