Gary Pinkel Accepts ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

 

The way the ALS #IceBucketChallenge works is simple. An individual who has been challenged has two options: Donate $100 to ALS or make a video of himself or herself being drenched with a bucket of ice water and donate only $10.. However, before they get soaked, they state that they have been challenged in order to spread awareness of ALS, and then they nominate three more people to the challenge. Those three people have 24 hours to make a video of their own doing the same ice water/nomination process. If that individual does not complete the challenge within the 24-hour window, they are asked to donate money to the ALS Association. The ALS Association has added the hash tag for participants to use when they post their videos to social media in order to spread the media phenomenon as far as humanly possible.

The #IceBucketChallenge has made top trends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. This social media awareness tool has grabbed mass media attention and all for a good cause. It has been featured on news networks and talk shows around the country, and now Mizzou tight end Sean Culkin challenged Coach Gary Pinkel.

Before Coach Pinkel nominated three more people to the #IceBucketChallenge, he communicated to the media, coaches and players present about how devastating and personal ALS is to him and families around the world.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons connect from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscular system in the body. The progressive degeneration of these motor neuron functions in ALS eventually leads to their death.

“I had a friend several years ago that passed away that had this disease, and it’s an ugly disease.” Pinkel added, “What they are trying to do is they are trying to get awareness and raise money.”

Coach Pinkel’s three lucky picks for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge are Mizzou Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, ESPN Sportscenter anchor and Mizzou alum John Anderson and Truman the Tiger.

 After he declared his three nominees, Coach Pinkel was drenched with not one, but two buckets of ice cold water, courtesy of his Mizzou Tiger team captains. He took the chill like a champ. Now the clock is ticking on Truman the Tiger, Chancellor Loftin and John Anderson’s 24 hours to complete the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.