Pocatello High School alumni help former classmate with cancer
Published at
POCATELLO – Many people keep in touch with a handful of their high school classmates and friends, but the Pocatello High School graduating class of 1971 is unique. Members of the group have stayed in contact and when a classmate is in trouble, they are still among the first to respond.
Russell Sanders is a member of the class who has always been there when his friends needed him and now, his friends say, they’re returning the favor.
Sanders is battling metastatic prostate cancer. He started chemotherapy on Tuesday.
How you can help
True to form, the 1971 alumni are coming to his aid. An online fundraiser has garnered more than $5,400 and a chili cook-off is planned next month.
“One Love for Russ Sanders” is set for Dec. 10 at the Pocatello Senior Center, at 427 North Sixth Ave., from 1 to 4 p.m.
The chili cook-off includes a silent auction and entertainment. The cost of the meal is $10 or $25 for a family.
Debbra Green, who launched a GoFundme site for Sanders, said anyone who ever met him likes him.
“To know (Sanders) is to love him. He is a great father, husband and son and he’s been a leader in our community and a friend to all,” Green said.
Raul Cano said donations to Sanders can also be made at the Rails West Credit Union in Pocatello to the Russell Sanders benefit account.
‘A happy guy’
Sanders said he and Cano have been friends for as long as he can remember.
The class of 1971 rallied for Cano when his 6-year-old son, Alec, died from leukemia in 2000.
“It’s very humbling that they’re all doing this for me, I just can’t describe how grateful I am for their support,” Sanders said. “They’re not only my classmates, they’re people I can trust.”
Jim Jacobson, or JJ, as the class of 1971 knew him, said “everyone knows (Sanders.)”
“(Sanders) is a big man and his heart is just as big as he is,” Jacobson said. “Anyone that knows him will tell you the same thing.”
Today Sanders is employed by the City of Pocatello, but he’s been unable to work due to medication being prescribed for him.
Shoppers and residents on the city’s west side might recognize him as the guy that waters the flower baskets in Old Town, a job Sanders does with a great deal of dedication and care.
“Every time you see (Sanders) in Old Town he’s smiling and waving, he’s just a happy guy, a positive guy,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson said when another classmate, Charles “Butch” Griggs, became ill in 2014, Sanders headed the effort to help Griggs get well and get back on his feet even though Sanders himself was dealing with cancer at that time.
Griggs is now on board helping with fundraising efforts to benefit Sanders.
Who is Russ Sanders?
“I think that maybe the class of 1971 stayed in contact because a lot of us stayed here in Pocatello,” Jacobson said.
Sanders moved to the Gate City as a young boy and later he was a well-known disc jockey. He and his wife, Sandra, have been married for 30 years and the couple has four sons.
Russell’s father, heavyweight boxer Hayes Edward Sanders, won gold in the 1952 Olympics while serving in the U.S. Navy.
“Big Ed” Sanders boxed for ISU, then known as the Idaho State College, until he was drafted.
Hayes was the first African American Olympic heavyweight boxing champion and the first American boxer to win a gold medal since 1904. He died from a traumatic brain injury at the age of 24.
Russell inherited his father’s athletic prowess and spirit, he played basketball at Pocatello High School and was the team’s captain. He went on to play for Idaho State University and Russell stayed involved in the game as a long-time coach for Junior Jazz Basketball in Pocatello.
He agrees that the bond shared with high school classmates is unique, but he has a different explanation.
“We had so many opportunities to be together without all the taboos,” Russell said. “We got to know each other and care about each other. We did things together and as a group there was solidarity. Intolerance was a foreign thing to our class.”
After his first cancer treatment Tuesday, Russell was upbeat.
“The staff at the PMC Cancer Center just made it seem like it was nothing at all,” Russell said. “Praise God, I have great support and I’m getting great care.”
Though his prognosis is unknown, Russell said one thing is certain.
“Any time I get is going to be good,” he said.
For more information about “One Love for Russell Sanders” contact chairperson Raul Cano at
(208) 226-4274 or Linda J. at (208) 240-2847. To donate chili for the cook-off, contact Richard W. at (208) 234-1470, Ken. B at Carpet One or Debbie Green at (208) 242-6376.