Published: Sunday, June 9, 2013, 10:35 p.m.

There was a little bit of all three Sunday at Monroe High School. Nearly 50 former Bearcats girls basketball players showed up at the gym for a 2 p.m. alumni game. But this wasn't just any old game, it was a game to help raise money for -- and honor -- former Monroe girls basketball coach Alan Dickson.

The 69-year-old Dickson coached at Monroe from 1994-2007, retiring because of his ongoing battle with prostate cancer. He has spent the better part of the past decade fighting the illness and recently was informed the cancer has reached stage-four hormone resistant levels.

As if his own battle wasn't enough to deal with, two of his grandchildren are battling health problems: A 10-year-old granddaughter recently was diagnosed with leukemia and he has a grandson with a brain tumor.

With the Dickson family facing tough times, some of his former players decided to take action.

Kaylee Hansen, a 2002 graduate of Monroe, came up with the idea of an alumni basketball game as a fund-raiser and posted an event notice on Facebook. Hansen quickly got responses from Ashley Robertson as well as Dani Drivstuen, Brandy Dunsing and Joni Edelbrock. Seems some of them had had the same idea.

"It was kind of funny because Dani and Brandi and Joni had already been planning on doing this," Hansen said. "So without us even talking, we were all kind of thinking about doing the same thing."

Together the group planned Sunday's event, which featured a team of graduates from 1996-2002 going against a group from 2003 and up. Admission was free, but donations were encouraged. The event also included raffles and a chance to win a $1,200 gift card to Grocery Outlet of Monroe by sinking a halfcourt shot.

The girls took the floor for warmups about a half hour before the game's scheduled start time, but took a break around 1:50 p.m. when the man of the hour made his entrance. The players and fans in attendance stopped and gave Dickson a standing ovation as he walked into the gym, some with tears in their eyes.

Dickson appeared honored and humbled. It was just the reaction Drivstuen expected.

Continued here:
This one is for you, coach