Former Jets Player Willie Colon Hosts NJ Event with Support from Other Pro Athletes, Raising Nearly $300,000 for Lupus Research Alliance

SUMMIT, N.J., May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of May, Lupus Awareness Month, former Super Bowl Champion and Barstool Sports radio personality Willie Colon, is hosting the annual Willie Colon Golf Outing for the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA). Dedicated to advancing lupus research, Mr. Colon is a member of the Lupus Research Alliance Board of Directors.

In keeping with LRA's new campaign, Lift Up Lupus, Mr. Colon is teeing up a cadre of sports super-stars and over 250 golfers to take a swing at this rough disease. MVPs expected to attend include: Super Bowl Champion and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan; 5x World Series Champion and MLB Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera; World Series Champion, 6x MLB All-Star and 2007 Cy Young Award Winner CC Sabathia; and 3x NFL Pro Bowler and former Giants running back Tiki Barber, who currently hosts the CBS radio show Tiki and Tierney.

Mr. Colon also will be joined by basketball champions Scott Burrell and John Starks. Football colleagues David Harris, Nick Mangold and Matt Simms, as well as broadcaster Anita Marks and NBA and Boxing Analyst Brian Custer, are expected to play. 

Held at the New Jersey's Canoe Brook Country Club, the Outing benefits the Jean Davis Research Grant in loving memory of his late mother Jean Davis.

"When my mom was first diagnosed with lupus, it was a disease very much in the dark and no one knew much about it," noted Colon. "My mom never put her illness, no matter what she was suffering, above our development as rough and tumble kids. I cannot think of a better way to honor her memory than to make possible the caliber of research that will afford future generations lives without lupus."

The sold-out event is on course to raise nearly $300,000. Since its inception in 2014, the Willie Colon Golf Outing has raised $1.5 million for the Lupus Research Alliance which invests every dollar in enabling the world's top scientists to pursue innovative research studies.

About Lupus
Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women; lupus most often strikes during the childbearing years of 15-45. African Americans, Latinx, Asians and Native Americans are two to three times at greater risk than Caucasians. In lupus, the immune system, which is designed to protect against infection, creates antibodies that can attack any part of the body including the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, blood, skin, and joints.

About the Lupus Research Alliance
The Lupus Research Alliance is the largest non-governmental, non-profit funder of lupus research worldwide. The organization aims to transform treatment by funding the most innovative lupus research, fostering diverse scientific talent, and driving discovery toward better diagnostics, improved treatments and ultimately a cure for lupus. Because the Lupus Research Alliance's Board of Directors funds all administrative and fundraising costs, 100% of all donations goes to support lupus research programs.

SOURCE Lupus Research Alliance