AUTLIVE: Auburn University Marching Band fights cancer with halftime show

AUTLIVE
by Jeff Shearer
AU_FootballCAW19AU_FootballCAW19
Cat Wofford/Auburn Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – When the first half ends during Auburn's football game against Tennessee on Saturday, the next image fans will see on the video board will be Bruce Pearl.

Auburn's men's basketball coach will introduce the Auburn University's Marching Band's halftime performance, "AUTLIVE: Fight Against Cancer."

"The idea here is to perform a halftime show that not only promotes Coach Pearl's AUTLIVE campaign," said marching band director Dr. Corey Spurlin. "Also to use the performance platform that we have to do some good in terms of cancer awareness and research."
 

Auburn University Marching Band members joined the men's basketball program to promote Saturday's AUTLIVE halftime performance. Photo: Wade Rackley/Auburn Athletics


A decade ago, Pearl created the OUTLIVE program at Tennessee to promote cancer screenings for early detection while raising money to support local cancer patients.

In 2014, Pearl brought the program to the Plains, changing the spelling to AUTLIVE.

In the same way former Tennessee basketball player Chris Lofton's cancer diagnosis motivated Pearl to form AUTLIVE, the recent diagnosis of marching band member Sarah DeFalco inspired Spurlin.

"Her bandmates and the leadership of the band didn't want [her] to fight it alone," Pearl said.
 

Coach Bruce Pearl visited with students, promoting the band's halftime show. Photo: Wade Rackley/Auburn Athletics



"We wanted to do something for her," Spurlin said. "We also wanted to do something on our campus because we have a variety of organizations that support cancer awareness, cancer research. We thought it would be interesting to try to do that in a halftime show performance."

To set the tone, the Auburn University Marching Band will play music from the movies "Incredibles" and "Mission Impossible," Spurlin said.

"Many people view this as an impossible task, but we have people who are successful in this research every day," he said. 


 

Basketball players Chuma Okeke, left, and Samir Doughty, passed out flyers on campus. Photo: Wade Rackley/Auburn Athletics



A former band member and Auburn University graduate, Christy Pickering, will appear on video to discuss the cancer research she's conducting in the doctorate program at Johns Hopkins.

"They've made progress," Spurlin said. "The potential to find a cure is there. We just need people's support and people believing in a cure."

Next, cancer survivors in attendance at Jordan-Hare Stadium will be asked to stand.

"We want to highlight those who have survived cancer who are part of the Auburn family," Spurlin said. "The show is very uplifting. We want people to understand that this is a devastating disease, but people survive it. And if you get early detection, and if we continue to support our researchers, there's opportunities for survival."

The show concludes with an optimistic look to a future without cancer, featuring a voiceover from ESPN's Tom Rinaldi.

"A cure is possible, but it does take people providing resources for that to happen," Spurlin said.

Pearl, along with members of Auburn's basketball team, joined marching band members on the concourse Tuesday to promote Saturday's halftime show, hand out ribbons and pamphlets, and encourage students to sign up for the  bone marrow registry.

"This program is to give everybody around here heads up to get checked," Pearl said. "This program is also to support all of the people who have survived and outlived cancer, and for those that are in the battle right now.

"I'm excited about seeing the halftime show. I encourage our fans to come out, support our football team, support our band. Don't go anywhere at halftime and watch this performance. And then to get checked, or get a family member checked, or contribute to some of the opportunities that are going to be presented as a donor, as a bone marrow donor. Any of the different ways you can participate in the ways to fight cancer." 
 
 
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
 

To learn more about AUTLIVE, click here.

In recognition of cancer survivor Chris Lofton, who played for Bruce Pearl at Tennessee, Pearl created the AUTLIVE program to support local cancer patients