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All For Matt: Sports, food - just what Gfeller would have loved
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
John Lineberger (left) and Thomas Keshian, two of the three founders of the Matt Gfeller Memorial Doughnut Run, strike classic poses at the Lineberger home in Winston-Salem. Gfeller died of injuries sustained while playing football.
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Published: November 9, 2009
Matt Gfeller loved sports. He loved to eat. He loved to have fun.
So, after three friends organizing a fundraiser for his memorial scholarship fund heard about an annual run in Raleigh that included wolfing down Krispy Kreme doughnuts, they knew they had found just the event.
"We thought it really fit great," said Camden Francis, a 16-year-old junior at Reynolds High School.
In August 2008, Gfeller, a 15-year-old linebacker for Reynolds, suffered a brain injury when he collided with an opposing player during Reynolds' season-opening game against Greensboro Page. The collision occurred on a Friday and Gfeller died that Sunday.
Francis and two other Reynolds students who were friends of Gfeller's -- John Lineberger, a 17-year-old junior, and Thomas Keshian, a 15-year-old sophomore -- have organized the first Matt Gfeller Memorial Doughnut Run. The run will be Saturday, and the proceeds from it will benefit the Matthew Alan Gfeller Memorial Scholarship Fund of The Winston-Salem Foundation.
Important stop
About halfway into the run, "challengers" will stop to eat half a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Those not up to the six-doughnut challenge are welcome to run or walk the course as "casual" participants and eat fewer doughnuts or no doughnuts at all.
All three run organizers were fast friends with Gfeller. Francis and Lineberger became friends when they were all sixth-graders at Summit School. Keshian, who was a grade behind, knew Gfeller from living in the same neighborhood, from being in Scouts together and from playing lacrosse together.
The friends described Gfeller as a natural leader. He was the sort of person who would announce that everyone was going to Carowinds on a certain day and then do everything necessary to make sure that the adventure came off. He was also happy to participate in whatever his friends came up with.
"He was up for anything, really," Keshian said.
And he was funny and a loyal friend.
"He really looked out for his friends," Lineberger said.
"He always treated everybody the same," Keshian said.
A tough year
The past year had been hard, all three friends said. For both Lineberger and Gfeller, it would have been their first year at Reynolds.
"It was really hard at first, especially starting at a new school when I had counted on him being there with me," Lineberger said. "I still think about him every day."
The entry fee for the Doughnut Run is $25. The young men raised more than $10,000 in cash and in-kind sponsorships from local businesses and individuals to cover the costs of putting on the race so all the money will go directly to the scholarship fund.
The race/walk starts at Reynolds at 9 a.m. The course goes through the Buena Vista neighborhood to Whitaker Elementary School, where Gfeller went to elementary school. There, participants who want to will eat their half-dozen doughnuts before returning to Reynolds. The young men are hoping for about 300 participants this year and would like to see the race continue in the coming years.
Krispy Kremes are his doughnut of choice, Francis said. He has certainly eaten a half-dozen at once, and, normally, running five kilometers wouldn't be a problem. But he's not so sure about the combination.
"The first mile after eating is going to be an adventure," Francis said.
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
727-7389
People can register online through the Twin City Track Club's Web site at www.twincitytc.org or by filling out a form available at Reynolds High School and Fleet Feet Sports on Reynolda Road.
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