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THE INTERNET — We’ve all been there.
In the social media-fueled world of 2018, it’s easy to see the increasing polarization of the United States — left vs. right, baseball vs. soccer … or even red vs. blue.
But not all rivals have to be enemies. In fact, after BYU’s stunning 24-21 win upset over then-No. 6 Wisconsin that earned the Cougars a bit of national respect via a No. 25 national ranking in the Associated Press college football poll, a group of BYU and Utah fans came together for something remarkable — raising more than $6,000 at a moment’s notice for the Hayes Tough Foundation that benefits the family of children battling cancer.
Geoff Johnston was one of those Cougar fans. The BYU class of 1994 graduate who lives in Arizona has been known to engage with plenty of BYU fans on Twitter. On one occasion over the weekend, he took tweets from a different account — an anonymous Ute defender known only as “Denver Ute” on social media.
Emboldened by a seven-game winning streak on behalf of his team, the anonymous account argued that BYU football was going nowhere. The Cougars would soon cease to be relevant on any stage — both locally and nationally — and the university would eventually drop the program.
Possible? Maybe. Bravado? Probably. Hot take? Certainly.
So Johnston took him up on a challenge — BYU would either drop its football program, or be ranked in the AP Top 25. The loser would pay $500 to the winner’s charity of choice.
It wasn’t a bet that would likely have a winner or a loser in the immediacy, right?
“Within 48 hours, BYU was ranked in the AP poll,” Johnston said by phone from his office in the Phoenix area. “It’s just funny serendipity.”
“Denver Ute” continued his online tweet storm, and Johnston didn’t think too much of it, the Arizona mortgage broker said. He didn’t think the anonymous fan would pay up on their pseudo-wager, and he slowly began to back away from it.
Then a funny thing happened: he started getting tagged by a lot of Utah fans.
“Rivalry banter is fine, when it’s light-hearted,” said Chris Enger of Herriman. “But what he was doing wasn’t light-hearted; it was belligerent.”
Long weary of the relentless rivalry in-fighting among BYU and Utah fans, Enger, who graduated from Utah in 2002, gathered a few of his online compatriots and decided to turn the moment into a teaching tool for good.
First, they asked Johnston for his charity of choice. The BYU fan selected the Hayes Tough Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation founded by former Utah safety Steve Tate that supports children affected by childhood cancer and their families. The foundation was started a year ago in honor of Hayes Tate, Steve’s young son who lost his battle with childhood cancer shortly before his second birthday
“We’ve done it before, and so when Geoff mentioned Hayes Tough, it just made sense for us to do it for this,” Enger said. “Steve’s taken that cause, and grown for it. It’s been awesome.”
Out of tragedy came a unique bonding experience — two sets of rivals came together for a really great cause. Rather than a haven of hate and a bastion of loathing, social media has become a force for good for the Tate family since Hayes’ diagnosis, death and the starting of the foundation formed less than two years ago.
“We found so much positivity in it that it boosted us in a time that we needed it,” Tate said. “In honor of Hayes, we had this built-in support system and started a foundation with people who have grown to love our son.”
That love kept flowing on Monday night.
In 30 minutes, the fan bases had raised $150. About two hours later, Hayes Tough had taken in close to $2,000 in donations — all by the time Tate had driven home from coaching his 12-year-old son’s football practice.
“That’s about as random as anything I’ve gotten,” he said. “People were responding, and it just came almost like watching a Las Vegas slot machine. The number kept going up, and I think people were getting a thrill from the updates.”
Tate said the donations will go toward his foundation's group of families that apply for $5,000 grants to aid their sick children. Much of these specific funds, in fact, will help pay for the group's annual Hayes Tough Dream Ball, an event that takes place Sept. 28 at Trolley Square where childhood cancer patients are given a chance to play the role of "what they want to be when they grow up," he added.
The Hayestough foundation is extremely grateful to be a part of an amazing community of both Utah and BYU fans. Through an unpaid bet you raised $6,065 in less than 24 hours. Most importantly, 100% of it goes to helping kids/families fight cancer. #hayestough
— Steve Tate (@tate28) September 18, 2018
It started with one tweet, too.
Utah fan “Jonny” saw Johnston mention the Hayes Tough Foundation, and he immediately went to the website and chipped in his donation.
“Jonny didn’t wait. He donated, and we were off,” Johnston said. “You have to have someone who is ready to take action.”
Enger wasn’t surprised by his long-time Twitter friends initiative, though.
“Taking action inspired everyone to do it right away, as well,” he said. “It got me to do it quickly, and I think everyone saw the same thing. It’s not like we want to save face, but we wanted to be represented more than how one guy interacts with other fans.”
Though the brief online movement has slowed down, the unofficial charity drive has no end date. All proceeds will toward the Tate family’s foundation, in memory of the tragic loss of an ex-Ute’s son who touched many lives in his brief time with the family.
And Johnston learned a valuable lesson from the experience.
“It was a good Twitter laugh to begin with,” he said. “But I think it became a good learning experience, and I’m impressed. There are clearly a lot of good people on both sides (of the rivalry).”
