The Phi 5K for Live Like Lou

Phi Delta Theta chapters at Butler University and Ball State University are combining for to host the first annual Phi 5K for Live Like Lou! Through this race we celebrate the life of baseball Hall of Famer and New York Yankee legend Lou Gehrig, who was a brother in Phi Delta Theta at Columbia university in 1921.

Over the course of his career, Gehrig would go on to prove himself as one of baseballs all-time greats, finishing with a career .340 average, 493 home runs, and 7 all-star selections. But Gehrig also proved himself in another way. In 1939, he was diagnosed with ALS, a progressively debilitating disease that was, and still is is one hundred percent fatal.

Gehrig never finished the 1939 season. In July of that year, he gave his famous "Luckiest Man" speech to a packed crowd at Old Yankee Stadium, his body alread beginning to break down. Gehrig concluded his speech by saying, "I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for." He would die just two years later. 

It is with that same relentless courage, unrelenting humility, and gratitude that we as members of Phi Delta Theta continue to raise money to fight ALS in memory of our brother Lou and our brother Neil Alexander and his wife Suzanne. The Alexanders formed the Live Like Lou foundation in 2012 after learning Neil too had been diagnosed with ALS.

Phi Delta Theta at Indiana Gamma and Indiana Kappa continue to move forward with the mission to find a cure for ALS and support families of those diagnosed with the disease. Proceeds from the 5K go directly toward the Live Like Lou Foundation to support these efforts.