TU Football To Wear Purple Socks, Towels To Support Fight Against Alzheimer's Disease

This Saturday’s home football game between the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the UCF Knights has been designated as Alzheimer’s Awareness Day. November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness and Caregivers Month. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

Tulsa football coach Philip Montgomery and his wife, Ashli, are strong advocates for the Alzheimer’s Association and the work that is being done to help diagnose, treat and care for those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, as well as supporting their caregivers. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior.

“If we haven’t yet, most all of us at some point in our life will have a family member or friend diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,” said Montgomery. “This is a debilitating disease that has touched my family and affects many families around the world.”

The color ‘purple’ has been associated with Alzheimer’s Awareness. On Saturday, 2,000 purple pom poms will be handed out to fans in attendance for the Tulsa-UCF game, the Tulsa team will wear purple socks and have purple towels. The Alzheimer’s Association will administer a table where fans can enter a drawing for a full-sized authentic TU helmet autographed by Coach Montgomery, a football autographed by the 2015 Hurricane team and six tickets to the TU-Navy game on Nov. 21. There will also be an on-field recognition of the Alzheimer’s Association and a special video message from Coach Montgomery played on the video board.

Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment. Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

There are over 60,000 Oklahomans living with Alzheimer’s disease, a number that would fill up H.A. Chapman Stadium twice. Every 67 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease.