Oct. 5, 2016 By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - College football's largest video board lights up Wednesday night in pink and green.
Pink for breast cancer. Green for liver cancer. AUTLIVE for all cancers.
On the first Wednesday each month, from 8-9 p.m., Auburn Athletics shows its support for the cancer community by shining colors representing that month's cancers on the Jordan-Hare Stadium video board.
It's a cause that hits close to home.
Former Auburn women's golf coach Kim Evans, an ovarian cancer survivor, is celebrating three years of freedom from the disease.
"It's about awareness," Evans said. "Awareness to take care of yourself if you're feeling any kind of symptoms. Awareness of the people we've lost. Awareness of people who have survived who are still going through a lot. It doesn't quit."
Former Auburn women's golf coach Kim Evans is celebrating three years of being cancer-free." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported_image" legacy-link="http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/aub/sports/w-golf/auto_a_storywide/12147230.jpeg"> Former Auburn women's golf coach Kim Evans is celebrating three years of being cancer-free.
Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl also has a special sensitivity for cancer patients. At Tennessee a decade ago, one of Pearl's players, Chris Lofton, was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the end of his junior season.
Pearl created an initiative called OUTLIVE to promote awareness and raise funds to support patients and provide for research. When Pearl joined the Auburn family in 2014, he changed the spelling to AUTLIVE.
"It's Auburn Athletics' fight against cancer," Pearl says. "Our way of fighting it is to make people aware of it, to get their prostate checked, mammograms, skin rash ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" get it checked. If it is cancer, the sooner you find out that it is, the earlier the stage you catch it, the better."
Pearl wants to use his visibility to encourage screenings and early detection. He also wants to support those who are battling cancer.
"They say your attitude has an enormous say in whether it's going to be something you can survive," Pearl said. "When patients feel support and encouragement, and confidence from friends, family and the Auburn family, they have a better chance to survive. And that's what AUTLIVE is all about, and that's what we're trying to get accomplished."
Pearl has chosen Auburn's January 21st basketball game against rival Alabama to spotlight AUTLIVE.
Bruce Pearl will give AUTLIVE t-shirts to students when the Tigers play Alabama in January." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported_image" legacy-link="http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/aub/sports/genrel/auto_a_storywide/12147206.jpeg"> Bruce Pearl will give AUTLIVE t-shirts to students when the Tigers play Alabama in January.
Fans will be able to buy AUTLIVE t-shirts, with proceeds benefiting local cancer patients and treatment centers. Pearl plans to buy shirts for the Auburn pep band and students who sit in the AU Jungle.
Evans will mark her three-year "cancerversary," as she calls it, by looking at the pink and green lights, along with the AUTLIVE logo, illuminating the night sky around Jordan-Hare.
"It's a great day," she said. "And it just shows that our Auburn family, and our Auburn Athletic family are just so much a part of the community."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer