COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Family was extremely important to Darlene Yaggie.
 
And she took special pride in her 11 grandchildren – spending time with them on their visits to the family farm near Breckenridge, or on weekend gatherings at their family cabin on Otter Tail Lake.
 
Two of those grandchildren have gone on to make a big impact on the Saint John's University football team.   
And though their grandmother passed away at age 76 in 2016 after a nearly two-year battle with esophageal cancer, both sophomore tight end Joey Gendreau (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and junior linebacker Cooper Yaggie (Breckenridge, Minn.) say they keep her memory with them always.
 
"I have her name and the cancer sign written on my wrist tape," said the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Gendreau, who has two touchdown catches this season. "I carry her with me whenever I step on the field."
 
"To see us playing together on the same team would have made her so happy," added the 6-foot, 210-pound Yaggie, who earned a starting spot as a sophomore and leads the team in tackles this season with 48.
 
"She'd try to get to as many of our games as possible growing up. So to see us now would have been a dream come true. But we know she's watching over us."
 
The loss of their grandmother makes the Johnnies' annual Tackle Cancer game more personal to both players. This year, that game is scheduled for this Saturday when No. 8 SJU (4-1, 3-0 MIAC) plays host to unbeaten MIAC Northwoods Division foe Carleton (5-0, 3-0 MIAC) for Homecoming at 1 p.m. in Clemens Stadium.
 
Since Gary Fasching's first season as head coach in 2013, the Johnnies have joined other colleges and high schools across Minnesota in designating a Tackle Cancer game -- raising money to benefit the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund. 
 
Proceeds from the sale of Tackle Cancer shirts, as well as donations collected at the game and money SJU players raise on their own, goes to fund research, prevention, treatment and other programs relating to the cancer community's needs. Use the QR code above to donate directly via Venmo.
 
The effort was started by Shaver, the KARE-11 TV anchor who has survived bouts with both Hodgkin's Lymphoma and prostate cancer. Since 2012, the organization has raised $2.9 million to support the Minnesota cancer community, including $473,000 in 2022 alone.
 
SJU's Tackle Cancer game, meanwhile, has raised a total of more than $100,000 in the past five years.
 
"It means a lot to us because of what we went through with our grandmother," Yaggie said. "But I think everyone has been impacted by cancer in some way. That's what makes a cause like this so important."
 
Many Johnnies players, in fact, do have their own stories about cancer's impact on a family member or other loved ones. That group includes senior defensive back Mateo Cisneros (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View), whose younger brother, Cullen, was diagnosed with leukemia at age 3, then with Ewing's sarcoma (a form of bone or soft tissue cancer) in 2020 – Cisneros' freshman year at SJU.
 
Cullen, now 14, has twice gone into remission, but is currently battling the illness for the third time.
 
"He just finished another round of treatment not too long ago," said the 5-11, 195-pound Cisneros, who has 12 tackles and a sack this season.
 
"But he doesn't give up and he doesn't let it bug him. I know how tough it must be, but he's stayed a pretty positive kid. Which is inspiring."
 
Still, Cisneros said it's been hard on both Cullen and the family. That's why raising money for cancer research and support is an extremely important cause to him as well.
 
"He goes through a lot and I know first-hand that everything helps," Cisneros said. "Whatever anyone can donate makes a difference. I know it goes to a good cause because I've seen what goes on behind the scenes when someone is battling this."
 
Fasching also has seen first-hand the toll cancer can take on families. His sister, Rita, died at 56 in 2019 following a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, and he's had both a brother and niece who have battled cancer as well.
 
He and his wife, Cindy (who lost her mother and a sister to cancer), sit on the Shaver Fund advisory board.
 
"We help distribute the money and it's been very eye-opening to hear from doctors and researchers about everything they're working on," Fasching said. "They're making real progress. But they need support."
 
That's what Fasching and his players are asking from SJU fans. The SJU Tackle Cancer effort is being led by Cindy Fasching and Libby Auger, wife of current assistant coach Andy Auger, mother of former SJU standout Tommy Auger and herself a cancer survivor.
 
"Our goal this year is to raise over $25,000," Fasching said. "If every adult at the game donated just $5, we'd make a big difference in finding a cure for cancer."
 
Gendreau echoed that sentiment, adding this is a cause that impacts everyone.
 
"Our grandmother was someone really special to us," he said. "But I think we all have people like that who've been affected by cancer. This is a way to help out."