COLFAX, Wash. – The community of Colfax is coming together to support Reece Jenkin, the high school boys basketball coach, as he battles stage four pancreatic cancer. The support extends beyond city limits, rallying people across the state.
On Saturday night, the Colfax gym was packed with supporters wearing purple to show their solidarity with Jenkin. The Colfax Bulldogs, known for their blue and gold, set aside their usual colors to honor their coach.
“I have a lot of people, you know, looking out for me, and that’s special,” said Jenkin.
Jenkin, who has been coaching in Colfax for nearly two decades, received the life-changing diagnosis just over a month ago. Despite the challenges, he continues to coach, finding solace on the sidelines.
“You know, there’s some days where I feel pretty good. There’s other days where it’s a lot of fatigue and it’s hard to get out of… hard to get out of bed,” Jenkin said.
Stacy Aune, a community member, shared her immediate response to support Jenkin. “My instant, easy response was we are going to turn one of our theme nights into a purple night,” she said.
Allie Cofer noted the widespread community involvement. “So many people have bought shirts and reached out, everybody wants to help,” she said.
The purple dress code extended to fans, students, referees and even the visiting Liberty Lancers, all wearing shirts for Jenkin. The support also reached beyond Colfax, including events at the Eagle Classic at West Valley and in Jenkin’s hometown of Reardan.
“That’s meant the absolute world to me. We have other teams in our league, we have other teams that aren’t even in our league that are kind of celebrating this weekend with kind of having a purple game. All that support, I just… I would’ve never known it’s all out there. I hate for this to be the reason why. However, it’s made me so grateful,” Jenkin said.
Bob Swannack highlighted the pride of the community. “It just shows the pride of this community. Coming together as one to support, you know, one of their own that happened to graduate quite a few years ago but we’re still coming together and we’re going to do what we can to fight with him,” he said.
Robb Soliday expressed his belief in Jenkin’s resilience. “It was devastating at first, but in the back of my mind… he can win at anything, so beating this would be nothing,” he said.
Jenkin continues to coach despite the toll it takes on him. “It is the one place you forget about everything and it just feels regular. It is a two hour break of nothing but just kind of getting to enjoy the moment. It still is that for me. I want to be there and enjoy this as much as I can because it’s always kind of been my retreat from everything,” he said.
Shelby Hennigar spoke about Jenkin’s impact on the community. “Everybody knows Reece, everybody loves Reece and the whole Jenkin family. We all do, we’ve all had kids coached by Reece,” she said.
Brandy Brown added, “He is one of the strongest humans in their world, these boys who have played for him forever.”
Jenkin shared his perspective after receiving the diagnosis. “I’m not grateful I have cancer, I’m not grateful for that. But I’m grateful to experience all the love and support. There’s some positive things out there, without this I wouldn’t know necessarily that all that support is out there. I trust in God’s plan, I truly believe there is a plan for all of this. And I believe that there’s a plan that good things are going to happen,” he said.
