It’s what makes University of Louisville’s athletics department’s partnership with raiseRED – the largest, on-campus student-led philanthropic campaign that fights to end pediatric cancer – an all-around victory.

The deal centers around a plan called Flight 23, which provides students admission to every home regular season home game for all 23 sports, including football and men’s and women’s basketball, for $10 per month.

Athletics is donating $2 to raiseRED for every Flight 23 member that attends a home football game (up to $10,000 total) and $1 to raiseRED for every member that attends a home men’s basketball game (up to $20,000 total).

can be purchased online through each student’s .

In previous years, athletics has donated a portion of funds for every student season ticket purchase referred by raiseRED, which focuses year-round efforts on supporting research and funding of the UofL Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology.

Last school year, raiseRED fundraised a record $682,483, a figure that could be surpassed with the new partnership.

Though the partnership dates back to at least 2016, last year’s successful single-game initiatives between athletics and raiseRED signaled opportunities for continued growth.

On Jan. 31, Louisville’s women’s basketball welcomed 11-time national champion Connecticut to the KFC Yum! Center for raiseRED Student Night. Head coach Jeff Walz and provost Beth Boehm agreed to donate $10 each to raiseRED for every student in attendance. By the end of the night, the Cardinals knocked off the Huskies and raiseRED was on the receiving end of a $10,000 check. Earlier that year, men’s soccer and athletics marketing teamed up to donate $1,000 to raiseRED in appreciation of the organization helping drive student attendance to the match.

Athletics will continue its student night initiatives with raiseRED during the fall and winter seasons leading up to the Dance Marathon, which is held annually in February. 

“We are very thankful for our partnership with athletics,” said Cole Hetzler, raiseRED’s university outreach coordinator. “It speaks to the community that we have here at UofL, and how we all support each other.”

After a cross-continent move, struggling to adapt to a new language and culture, attending a school that cut its basketball program, and myriad injuries during her playing career at two universities, Diop is primed to start her final year of eligibility on the court as a UofL Cardinal. And she has one goal in mind – to make an NCAA final.

Reporter Danielle Lerner chronicled Diop’s long and winding path to the Yum! Center court in the .

Raised in the heart of the Sengalese capital of Dakar, Diop had big dreams of going out into the world and becoming more. After falling in love with the NBA at the age of 9, she began playing basketball against the other children in her community. She possessed a strong tenacity for the game which got her recruited for club ball, where she continued gaining skills and notoriety. Her talents were noticed and she was encouraged to make the move to the U.S.  

Diop’s mother initially was not thrilled with the idea and insisted Diop would have to find a way to not only get to the U.S., but also to go to college. So Diop boarded a plane alone as a young teen and traveled to Pennsylvania to attend high school.

In a foreign country and unable to speak the language, Diop turned to basketball as her constant. Until her first high school cut their girl’s program. After transferring, she struggled academically and lost eligibility until her senior year. However, a successful on-court performance senior year secured her a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. More trials and tribulations followed her at college, where she struggled with injuries and the team struggled to win.

Diop remained optimistic that she would one day find her way to an NCAA tournament and later, the WNBA. It was with this optimism that she transferred to the University of Louisville for graduate studies. Alas, early in the 2018-19 season, Diop was sidelined with yet another injury – an ACL tear. The injury was disheartening, but following rehabilitation, she is ready to compete in her final year of college eligibility with the goal to reach the NCAA finals.

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The Play4Kay Pink Out honors the late Kay Yow, a former University of North Carolina coach who died from cancer in 2009. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund is celebrating its 10^th anniversary of providing funding and support for cancer research.

The at the will be on hand at the game with giveaways and educational materials on the importance of early screening and detection of breast cancer. Louisville Women’s Basketball also will recognize breast cancer survivors on the court during halftime.

Fans are encouraged to wear pink, and representatives of Tom Drexler Plumbing and Remodeling will accept $5 donations for a breast cancer awareness t-shirt in the main concourse of the KFC Yum! Center. Proceeds will benefit Gilda’s Club of Louisville.

Fans also will get to check out the Mustang and Mobile Screening Unit, vehicles that are projects of Horses and Hope, an organization that brings cancer screening, detection and treatment services to workers in the equine industry in Kentucky.

Breast cancer survivors are eligible to receive one free ticket and a discounted ticket for $3 for all guests. Call the Louisville Cardinals’ Ticket office for this offer at 502-852-5151. Other fans can receive discounted tickets for $3 by visiting  and using promo code PLAY4KAY.