SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga's Mark Few will be honored at the 15^th annual Dick Vitale Gala that benefits The V Foundation for Cancer Research Friday. Net proceeds from event will be awarded to pediatric cancer research and related programs through The V Foundation.
 
Few will be honored alongside Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach football Bruce Arians and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith. The gala will also honor Courage Award recipients, former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly and Orlando Magic co-founder Pat Williams.
 
The event, which is usually held in person in Sarasota, Fla., will be transformed into a pre-recorded virtual show this year. The presentation itself, which is being produced by ESPN staff, will be hosted by ESPN's Kevin Negandhi. Last year's event raised $4.3 million.
 
Few has established himself as one of the most successful coaches in NCAA Division I basketball annals in his 21 seasons at the helm, and in the process has made Bulldog basketball a household name across the country. He has won 599 games at Gonzaga as head coach, to just 124 losses, making his 82.8-win percentage the best in the nation among active coaches.
 
For all that Few has accomplished on the court, his achievements off of it are equally impressive. In 2002, Mark and his wife Marcy initiated the Spokane branch of Coaches vs Cancer. The Few's annual event would become the largest Coaches vs Cancer fundraiser across the country. Quietly and without fanfare, Few has created a culture of giving at Gonzaga. In 2007, Gonzaga began hosting the Ronald McDonald House Charities Classic. For six seasons, these annual games helped raise over $750,000 for Spokane's Ronald McDonald House.
 
Building on their success with Coaches vs Cancer, the Fews and others in the Spokane region launched the Community Cancer Fund in 2014 to keep more money in the local market while devoting more resources to cancer patients, their families and the local organizations that serve them.  In the last six years, the Community Cancer Fund has raised over 17 million dollars bringing the total raised over 18 years between the organizations to well over 25 million dollars.
 
Among the highlights, the charity established a 3-million-dollar endowment to fund Camp Good Times, a week-long summer camp for kids with cancer. And this year, the Community Cancer Fund worked to increase lodging options for cancer patients and their families traveling to the region for treatment, which included the completion and opening of a 5-million-dollar Hospitality Center at Kootenai Health and a campus expansion of Spokane's Ronald McDonald House.
 
"It has been amazing to watch Dick do what he does better than anybody," Few told the East County Observer newspaper in Florida. "And that is motivate people to get out and actually fight, to take action. We are humbled and fired up to be a part of this, because it does not get any bigger than Dickie V."
 
Tickets to watch the livestream cost $300, with all money going to The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Businesses can also sponsor the livestream for $3,000. For more information or to donate/purchase a ticket, call 941-350-0580. For more information about the 15th Annual Dick Vitale Gala, please visit www.jimmyv.org/vitale.