MSU vs. Notre Dame TV Watch Party

Spartan alums remember young, wheroic Lacey with a fundraiser.

team. A few days before her final trip to the
hospital, Payne held her up as she cut down
acey Holsworth was an 8-year-old
the nets when the Spartans won a Big Ten
sprite with long blonde hair and a
tournament in Indianapolis.
million-dollar smile.
Now, three local Jewish Michigan State
Through her friendship with a member
alumni are keeping Lacey’s memory alive.
of Michigan State University’s varsity bas-
On Saturday, Sept. 17, they’ll hold their
ketball team, she captivated much of the
third annual Spartans for Lacey football
nation before she died of neuroblastoma, a
watching party during the MSU vs. Notre
nerve cancer, on April 8, 2014.
Dame game.
Spartan basketball center Adreian
The event will be held at Rosie O’Grady’s,
Payne, who now plays for the Minnesota
279 W. Nine Mile Road in Ferndale, starting
Timberwolves, met Lacey when the team
at 7 p.m. The $30 admission charge ($35 at
made a routine visit to hospitalized
the door) includes unlimited pizza,
children in 2011.
salad and soft drinks. There will
He and Lacey became fast
be a raffle and auction, including
friends. “I just think of him and I
autographed items from profes-
smile,” said Lacey in a video about
sional and MSU Spartans teams,
their relationship.
tickets and a private tour of the
Lacey’s journey was picked
Detroit Tigers office and press
up by social media; her Twitter
box, and more. A highlight is an
and Instagram accounts
autographed shoe worn by Adreian
(#LoveLikeLacey) drew more than Frank Reinstein Payne.
36,000 followers.
Frank Reinstein of West
Toward the end of her life, Lacey traveled Bloomfield, a 1988 MSU graduate who is
out of state to watch the Spartans basketball now a CPA in Southfield, said the watch

Barbara Lewis | Contributing Writer

L

party tradition dates back to 2011.
Reinstein’s sister, Mara, was running in
the New York Marathon and used the occa-
sion to raise funds for the V Foundation,
which supports pediatric cancer research.
To help his sister, Reinstein and his co-
chairs, Brian Parel of Commerce Township
and Ian Bolton of Bloomfield Hills, set up
a football watch party and raised almost
$15,000. They repeated the party in the
following years. Last year’s party attracted
nearly 200 people.
This year, they decided to focus their
effort locally. They’ll donate this year’s
watch party proceeds to Princess Lacey’s
Legacy, a foundation established in Lacey’s
memory by her parents, Matt and Heather
Holsworth of St. Johns, Mich. Funds
raised will be used to help pediatric cancer
patients in Detroit and Lansing.
“This yearly fall event provides an oppor-
tunity for Michigan State alumni to get
together and watch a great football game
while supporting those battling pediatric
cancer,” Reinstein said. “One hundred
percent of the proceeds go to the Princess

Lacey Holsworth and Adreian Payne

Lacey Legacy, which helps kids fighting
pediatric cancer in the Metro Detroit and
Lansing areas.”
Funds will provide for alternative thera-
pies such as sports, art and dance classes
and horseback riding to take children’s
minds off the battle they are fighting, said
Reinstein.
“The foundation was founded by Lacey’s
parents, who believed that a child’s journey
should be approached with as much posi-
tive encouragement as possible and to make
kids smile again,” he added.

*

For reservations to the Sept. 17 watch party, go to
www.SpartansForLacey.eventbrite.com.

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September 8 • 2016

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