Welcome to the 19th Annual Coaches vs. Cancer Wisconsin Suits & Sneakers Gala at the Overture Center for the Arts. We are honored to gather leaders from Wisconsin’s business and philanthropic communities for an evening featuring auctions, special tributes, and appearances from Coach Bo Ryan and coaches from across the state.
Coaches vs. Cancer is a national partnership between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, uniting communities to raise awareness, promote healthy living, and fund cancer research. Since 1993, the program has raised more than $167 million nationwide, including over $11.6 million in Wisconsin, the leading Coaches vs. Cancer program in the country. Currently, ACS is funding $5.44 million in cancer research at UW-Madison alone.
Through advocacy, research, and patient support, the American Cancer Society is improving lives every day, driving policy change, advancing discoveries, and providing critical resources to patients and families.
On behalf of 2026 Board Chair Gregg Riek and the Coaches vs. Cancer Wisconsin Board, thank you for your continued support. Together with our coaches and community partners, your generosity is helping save lives.
At the Coaches vs. Cancer Wisconsin Gala, our mission moment shines a light on the life-saving impact of breast cancer research and the people who champion it. This year, our Fans of the Year, UW-Madison Men’s Hockey Head Coach Mike Hastings and his wife, Jean Ann, are leading that charge. Mike is known across college hockey for building winning teams and a culture of excellence, but tonight he stands with us for a far more personal reason. Through Coaches vs. Cancer, the American Cancer Society is funding critical research and clinical trials that are advancing treatments, improving outcomes, and giving families more time – time that truly matters.
For Jean Ann, the power of research is deeply personal. After being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2019, she participated in multiple clinical trials, including those supported by the American Cancer Society. Those trials, and the drug Taxol, helped save her life. Along the way, she experienced firsthand the comprehensive support ACS provides to patients and families, from lodging and transportation to education and community. Now more than five years cancer-free, Jean Ann honors those she’s lost, including her mother and a close friend from treatment, by advocating for continued investment in research.
Together, Mike and Jean Ann remind us that when we support breast cancer research through Coaches vs. Cancer, we’re not just funding science, we’re fueling hope for the next breakthrough and the next survivor.
Learn MoreFor more than 10 decades, the American Cancer Society has been dedicated to pursuing better outcomes for every cancer, every life. Today, more people are surviving cancer than ever before, but there is still work to be done. Join us, support us, and help us end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
towards cancer research
winning scientists received research funding
through all patient support initiatives in 2024
