A Look Back At The Ice Bucket Challenge

The summer of 2014 offered one of the more carefree times in recent American history. Even the weather felt like it cooperated on a regular basis. It was the hottest summer on record with NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, but the overall heat and sunshine regularly drove people to the beaches surrounding the region. Cape Cod reported over 4.4 million visitors while maintaining an economic benefit of $232 million while Maine's more northern region enjoyed similar optimism. The only downturn, it seemed, was coming from Fenway Park, but even the Boston Red Sox were the defending World Series champions despite returning to last place status in the American League East.

What nobody could have foreseen or foretold was how the year eventually changed the course of history. An online fad - a viral sensation - was a relatively new phenomena to the burgeoning world of social media, and in the middle of the summer, the seminal moment of the year began when the Ice Bucket Challenge emerged as both a trend and a fundraiser capable of changing the world.

"I can tell you exactly where I was for the first Ice Bucket Challenge," current BC infielder Vince Cimini told The Podcast for Boston. "I was in a Residence Inn Marriott in Flemington, New Jersey with my travel baseball teammates, and we did the Ice Bucket Challenge in the pool. Fast forward 10 years, and the fact that it's still going is very special. Before I committed to BC, I remember seeing the players doing it on the field at summer ball, so it's been a long time, and I'm happy we're still doing it."

The Ice Bucket Challenge forever altered the fight against a disease that was relatively unknown prior to its 2014 emergence. More commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," not much conversation surrounding amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and its progressive fight until people started dumping water over their head. Its progressive nature was relatively unknown beyond the story of one of baseball's most legendary names, and no cure or treatment had been developed through the more meager funding that existed at the time.

That trajectory changed entirely when the Ice Bucket Challenge emerged as the single most important viral trend of 2014. Various connections landed it on the table of ideas surrounding Pete Frates, an ALS patient diagnosed with the disease in 2012. A former baseball player at Boston College, his determination and aptitude helped create an organized space for the trend after previously connecting with Pat Quinn, another ALS patient.

For the entire summer, the growth and expansion of the Ice Bucket Challenge spread uncontrollably. Anyone responding to the challenge summarily issued their own challenge to three additional people, who in turn created videos and sent their own challenge to three additional people. In the spirit of a pyramid, the exponential growth of the challenge eventually reached some of the highest forms of worldwide society, and everyone from world leaders to pop stars to professional athletes began creating films challenging one another with a positive spin on the weaponization of social media - a fact often seen in a negative light.

"I remember when nobody knew or understood what ALS was," said John West, a former BC pitcher whose father passed away following his own fight with the disease. "Then all of a sudden, Pete Frates comes out with the Ice Bucket Challenge with Pat Quinn, and now everyone knows what ALS is. It's incredible."

From the 50,000-foot view, the Ice Bucket Challenge was a fun way to cool off during the hottest recorded summer, but its ability to spread a viral trend carried ALS into the mainstream conversation. It raised well over $200 million and is now credited directly with new gene therapies and discoveries associated with ALS. The progressive motor neuron disease once considered incurable was essentially broken down by a simple bucket, and in the United States, two new treatments were approved for patients while the number of ALS clinics nationwide doubled.

All of that is linked back to Frates, but it's occasionally easy to forget how that fight is forever interwoven into the fabric of BC's baseball program. The players and coaches currently within the program don't carry the same connection to the Frates family, and Pete's death is inching further and further away from a team that carries minimal connection to his appearances at Shea Field. Former head coach Mike Gambino used to liken the game through an explanation about how BC wanted to stop playing ALS Awareness Games because that meant the disease was gone, so his departure and the transition to current head coach Todd Interdonato carried the added weight of keeping the fight within the program for players and coaches who weren't with the Frates family after Pete's passing in 2019.

"I've said it a number of times," said Interdonato after last year's ALS Awareness Game, "but we felt like we needed John and Nancy's blessing to carry this torch. We needed their permission to fully embrace this, and the fact that we got it during my first week here at BC, they gave us their blessing with open arms. The conversations we've had since then makes it feel more wholesome, so being able to come here [to BC], I felt a great sense of responsibility to continue the ALS Awareness Game."

"For us, this is what it means to be a Boston College baseball player," echoed Cimini. "Guys that have been here the longest pass it down to the younger players. They'll remember how we played, but that legacy that Pete built, [the relationship] with Lucy and Julie and Nancy and John, what they've done to end this disease…that's what people are going to remember. Being able to play in that game is an honor, but to know that playing that game is going to have an impact on people in the future means even more."

BC hosts Miami on Sunday in the 13th annual ALS Awareness Game at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. with national television coverage on ESPNU. Tickets are available through the Red Sox box office or by visiting redsox.com.

Coming off of a 15-2 win over Quinnipiac on Tuesday, the Eagles are scheduled to host UMass-Lowell on Wednesday in a 4 p.m. matinee at the Harrington Athletics Village with television coverage available on the ACC Network Extra's streaming platform. Prior to Sunday's ALS Awareness Game, the Eagles will host the Hurricanes for games on Friday and Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. and 12 p.m.

Players Mentioned

Vince Cimini

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