OSU Honors Fallen Community Members With 18th Annual Remember The Ten Run

The Remember The Ten Run is raising money for Oklahoma State Counseling Services and honoring the ten people from the OSU community who died in a plane crash 23 years ago.

Kerry Alexander, the founder of the run joined News 9 in studio to talk about the event and what it means to the community.

In 2001, ten people, including News 9 Sports Director Bill Teegins, died when their plane crashed while returning from an OSU basketball game against Colorado.

In April of 2007, the Oklahoma State University community came together to hold a memorial run on the OSU campus. The run is now in its 18th year.

Alexander said he was inspired by the impact of the loss and wanted to honor the ten people in a powerful way.

"I was thinking about, you know, how much emotion there was about the men we lost," Alexander said. "At some point, it just kind of clicked. Why don't we have a 10k for the 10?"

Initially, the event was supposed to be a one-time thing, but Alexander said the community has continued to rally together every year since.

"I think that that the ability for all of us to look at those that we've lost maybe in our own lives, and think about how that support made a difference, gives us sympathy and drives us to support those who have those kind of mass tragedies," Alexander said.

The money raised from the event for the last 18 years has benefitted OSU Counseling Services and has gone toward student scholarships.

"We've been able to give away almost $360,000 to OSU Counseling Services, plus, we've had over ten years of scholarships to go to students who have an advanced degree pursuit that is in grief counseling," Alexander said.

Alexander said that while this event is remembered for those fallen and should be taken seriously, it is also a fun way to show community support.

"There's some tears shed, but there's a lot of celebration as well," Alexander said.

He said there is an event for everyone to participate in, from the 1-mile Fun Run to the 10K.

The event is on April 20 on the OSU campus.

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