Super Bowl Champion Willie Colon Drives Discovery at 2025 Annual Lupus Research Alliance Golf Fundraiser

Over 300 attendees raised $450,000 to fuel research breakthroughs for those living with lupus

SUMMIT, N.J., June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lupus Research Alliance, the world's largest private funder of lupus research, partnered with Super Bowl Champion and current Fox Sports 1 co-host Willie Colon on the 11th Annual Willie Colon Golf Outing – raising an incredible $450,000 for lupus research.

The sold-out event on June 23 brought together over 300 golfers in honor of Colon's late mother Jean Davis, who had lupus, a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions worldwide. To date, the event has raised nearly $3 million to help the LRA fund and fuel innovative breakthroughs that aim to improve the lives of those living with lupus.

"Eleven years ago, my family chose to partner with the Lupus Research Alliance with this golf outing – all in the hopes of supporting lupus research that can improve treatments and find a cure," said Colon, a long-time and highly committed LRA board member. "Although my mother died before a cure was discovered, I have confidence that future generations will benefit from the research the LRA is funding now. While no one individual, no one family, and no one organization can conquer lupus, together we can, and we will."

A host of sports stars joined Colon, the former Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets lineman, aiming to score a hole-in-one for lupus research. Those in attendance included Craig Carton (FS1), Greg Giannoti (WFAN), Brian Custer (ESPN), and Connor Hughes (SNY).  Former New York Jets players in attendance include Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brandon Marshall, David Harris, Erik Coleman, Fred Baxter, Dave Szott, Matt Simms, and Chris Ivory. Other sports celebrities supporting the event include Darnell Stapleton (Pittsburgh Steelers), Brandon Hunt (Las Vegas Raiders), Adalius Thomas (Baltimore Ravens), Kendall Simmons (Pittsburgh Steelers), Chris Canty (New York Giants), and Mike Adams (Carolina Panthers).

At the event, Colon thanked the five chairs who helped organize the outing -- Xavier V. Goss, at (Capital Group), Ted Knauss (The PNC Financial Services Group), Daniel LaVecchia (Cantor Fitzgerald), Nidhi Patel (BlackRock), and Julius D. Williams (Invesco). Thanks also went to primary sponsors: Tito's Handmade Vodka, Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and the Willie and Aikisha Colon Foundation.

About Lupus 
Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In lupus, the immune system, meant to defend against infections, produces autoantibodies that mistake the body's own cells as foreign, causing other immune cells to attack organs such as the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs and skin, as well as blood and joints. Ninety percent of people with lupus are women, most often diagnosed between the ages of 15-45. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander people are disproportionately affected by lupus and more likely to experience severe lupus symptoms.

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 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.

For more information or to donate to lupus research, visit the LRA at LupusResearch.org and on social media at: X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

SOURCE Lupus Research Alliance