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Cleats vs. Cancer a mission for Davis' Dumas
Coach was WSU teammates with event founder, who lost battle with cancer
By JERREL SWENNING/Stat Hound
Jan 18, 2026
For Davis football coach Jay Dimas, Monday’s Cleats vs. Cancer doubleheader at Sumner’s Sunset Chev Stadium is much more than football.
It’s about a friend.
Derek Sparks, a running back at Washington State when Dumas was a receiver and punt returner for the Cougars in the 1990s, founded the event when his daughter, Ze’lee, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2018.
Following that fall’s season, the first game was held.
“The initial venture was really small, we were going to help her,” Damas said. “The reaction we got, we said. ‘we’ve got to run this back.’”
A couple years later, with his daughter’s cancer in remission and the game an annual hit, irony’s cruelty hit. Derek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2021.
Just a few months later, he passed.
The mission was clear for Dumas and others heavily involved, including WSU teammates Brett Carolan and Torey Hunter – the event would continue.
“When D passed, we really felt a sense of obligation to keep the game going,” Dumas.
The three along with Marcus Yzaguuirre, another WSU alum, serve as the general managers for the four teams, which will feature more than 200 of the top seniors in the state, coached by some of the state’s best in the high school ranks.
The GMs sift through player applications, rank them based on accolades, and then assign them to teams, who will play at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., with pink-and-black uniforms.
Many northwest colleges will have personnel in attendance for the eighth event, watching their future players play one more time, and occasionally finding that under-the-radar recruit.
“There are few kids who may get seen who weren’t seen before,” Dumas said. “This really is for the schools to see in their players in practice and playing against good talent.”
And for a cause.
“Everybody is looking forward to this,” Dumas said. “Every team we’ve had has causes and within the
teams, there are causes.”