Cody Olszewski, a rising senior and the Pope football team long snapper, will wear jersey No. 70 for the Greyhounds this coming season.
That was the jersey number worn by former Pope player Matt Hobby, who died in 2006 of cancer, right after graduating.
Since then, a Greyhounds team member has been named the Matt Hobby Award recipient “in honor of the #StandTough attitude that Matt lived by.”
That’s the phrase Hobby used as he was battling Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer.
He had two bone marrow transplants and was treated at hospitals in Seattle and New York during his three-year fight, according to his obituary.
Olszewski usually wears No. 68 and also is listed as an offensive and defensive lineman.
The Greyhounds, like other high school football teams in Cobb, will soon begin practice for the 2018 season. They were 4-7 last year under first-year coach Tab Griffin, a former Pope player.
Pope’s season opener is Aug. 24 at Lassiter.
The Greyhounds also designate a home game each season as the Matt Hobby Game. This year that game is Sept. 14 against Alpharetta, and fundraising proceeds from a special T-shirt sale will go to the Atlanta-based Rally Foundation, which conducts childhood cancer research.
Pope efforts in Hobby’s memory have raised more than $200,000 for the Rally Foundation over the last 12 years.
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- Inaugural Greyhound Gallop to benefit Pope teams
- Former Pope pitcher debuts with Chicago Cubs
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