Todd Breunig credits his late mother, Mary, for encouraging him to become a teacher.

"I was the one in business before this," said Breunig, a physical education teacher and JV boys basketball coach at Sauk Prairie High School in Prairie du Sac. "She's the one who said 'You need to be in teaching.'"

Over time, he's learned that teaching doesn't have to be confined to the classroom.

That's why Breunig organized Friday night's "Shoot Down Cancer" theme for the Northern Badger Conference boys basketball game between Baraboo and Sauk Prairie.

He wanted to raise money to fight the disease and to honor the memory of his mother, an elmentary school aide at Spruce Street School who died May 8, 2006 of cancer at age 62.

"My family had never gone through something like that," said Breunig, one of six children. "So many people helped us through the process."

Breunig's efforts in rasing money to fight cancer through Friday night's game were an educational experience for him, too.

Money is being raised through the sale of pink T-shirts that cost $15 and include admission to the game, with proceeds going to American Cancer Society and the Jimmy V Foundation. Breunig said Wednesday that nearly 550 shirts had been sold and another 100 had been ordered.

In addition, Breunig said Sauk players will wear special shooting shooting shirts during warmups, while Nedrebo's Formal Wear is outfitting the Eagles' coaches with pink vests and ties. Each player has also written a short essay about how cancer has affected their lives, and those were compiled into a booklet and will be available next to the programs for fans to read.

Baraboo coach Tom Steinhorst said his players were trying to find pink shoelaces to wear and many will wear pink shirts during warmups. He also said that Baraboo vice principal and former athletic director Dave Hedgepath — diagnosed in December with esophagal cancer — will shoot free throws at halftime as part of a ceremony recognizing local people battling or having beaten cancer.

Both teams were willing to wear pink-colored jerseys for the game only to learn that would have been a violation of WIAA rules governing uniforms and amateur status.

"What the (WIAA) board has asked us to do is follow the National Federation playing rules," WIAA associate director Deb Hauser said. "In basketball, white is there required color for the home team and dark for the visitors. Pink doesn't really fit that.

"Anybody that has checked with us, we've tried to divert them ... to pink socks or shoelaces (or) a 'pink-out' with the crowds so everybody coming to the game can be involved."

Schools that have worn pink and white uniforms without checking with the WIAA — as the Lomira and North Fond du Lac girls did before Christmas — will not be penalized, Hauser said.

She cautioned, though, that any jersey worn for special events must be purchased by the school district to keep their players from potentially violating amateur-status rules.

"(The rules are) pretty specific what you can and can't do, and we have a lot of those calls every year," Hauser said. "It puts us in a difficult (situation) that makes it seem like we're not supportive of the cause. That's not the case at all; the Board just (wants) us to follow the National Federation rules."

Black Hawk, Belleville girls plan cancer fundraisers

Breast cancer awareness fundraisers are planned tonight in Belleville and Thursday in South Wayne at two area girls basketball games.

Belleville players will wear pink shoelaces for their Southern Capitol Conference showdown with Wisconsin Heights. Pink bandanas and cookies will be sold and a donation bucket set up with money going to the American Cancer Society and the American Basketball Coaches Association "Coaches vs. Cancer" initiative.

Fans attending the Heights-Belleville game are asked to wear pink as part of a "Pink Out."  In addition, Belleville athletic director Susette Alsteens said the Belleville youth softball program will also present a check Wisconsin Heights coach Gena Clarson, who is battling cancer.

Black Hawk players will wear pink t-shirts during warm-ups before their Eastern Six Rivers Conference game against Barneveld with a logo conveying the theme for the event: "More than a game ... shooting for a cure." The school is selling t-shirts and hosting pie and basket raffles, to benefit Gilda's Club of Madison.