Posted by Reggie Mason

DAYTON – An exhibition game between the Dayton Flyers and the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball teams will cap off a multi-day community engagement event championing adolescent and young adult mental health and suicide prevention.

The NCAA waiver-approved charity game will be played on Sunday, October 22 at UD Arena.  Game time will be announced at a later date.  All proceeds from the game and surrounding events will benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio.

The public is invited to a town hall on Thursday, Oct. 19 and Friday, Oct. 20 with a specific focus on helping individuals and families navigate finding the right mental health care for themselves and their loved ones. The event will include discussions and presentations attended by Anthony and Chris Grant, and a variety of stakeholders. A more detailed agenda will be announced in early fall featuring local and national mental health experts, student-athletes, coaches, and other topic experts from each University.

Dayton Coach Anthony Grant and his wife Chris strive to “bring purpose to the pain” from their family’s tragedy by helping mothers, fathers, teens, and young adults find the resources to help. Their daughter Jay died last year at the age of 20 as a result of mental illness.

“First, I want to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to Coach (Chris) Holtmann, Athletic Director Gene Smith and the Ohio State community for participating in this special event,” Coach Grant said.  “They have been incredibly gracious partners and we’re thankful for their participation. More importantly, the game is a collaborative effort to help raise awareness, generate conversation, and increase access to mental health services in Ohio and throughout the country.”

“We look forward to partnering with Anthony and Dayton on this exhibition game at UD Arena,” Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann said.  “Anthony’s willingness to share his family’s story in hopes of helping others is inspirational and we appreciate him including Ohio State in this event. We are excited that the proceeds will benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and other local organizations.”

“We can’t think of a better way to support Coach Grant and his family than helping to put together this event to reduce the sigma around mental health and suicide prevention,” UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan added.  “We are looking forward to sharing resources with the community and hopefully helping many other families.”

Charity exhibition game tickets will be offered as part of the Dayton season ticket package, with single game tickets announced on sale as available. The town hall is free and open to the public.

About Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation

About National Alliance on Mental Illness

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS