INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) \u2014 The 14th annual Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala took place at the Colts training complex on Friday night. <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s event raised more than $900,000 for cancer research.<\/p>\n
Former Colts head coach and cancer survivor Chuck Pagano reflected on how much this event has grown through the years. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt still seems so surreal,\u201d Pagano said. \u201cI think back and I was up at 2:30 this morning and I couldn\u2019t go back to sleep. All the memories of all the events, all the games, that first season. I couldn\u2019t even believe that it morphed into what it morphed into. The very first game I missed, the Chuckstrong tee shirts and that whole movement and just because of the generosity of Jim Irsay and the Irsay family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering Friday, the event had raised over $16 million dollars for cancer research since 2012. Pagano credits the late Jim Irsay and his family for setting the initiative in motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout Jim and his family, there is no Chuckstrong,\u201d Pagano said. \u201cMiss Jim obviously, I love Jim. Nobody loved his team and his players, the community, the fans more than him and he loved this event as much as all of that. Grateful for everybody here, grateful for year 14.\u201d<\/p>\n