When community members and visitors gathered for a golf tournament Monday morning at Stillwater Country Club, several of the most enthusiastic attendees didn’t compete on a team.

Instead, they roamed the course with their families, stopped at the snack tent and waited at the clubhouse with colorful water guns, ready to spray the next group of golfers that rolled up in a cart.

The children at the Cowboys vs. Cancer Cowboy Classic had a day to enjoy being kids.

Piedmont residents Billy and Jenny Hughes watched their 8-year-old son, Will, join his peers and pose for a photograph with Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy.

“Basically, the kids run the whole thing,” Billy said. “What they say and do goes, and it’s just a fun experience.”

For Will, the event was a welcome distraction from treatment sessions, Billy and Jenny said. Later, he would undergo chemotherapy again, a routine step in his fight against leukemia. It’s more than any kid should have to handle, but the boy known as “Warrior Will” wasn’t concerned about that when he and his twin sister, Cora, scampered around the country club and met OSU coaches.

The Cowboys vs. Cancer Cowboy Classic allowed cancer survivors and their families to bond with one another and connect with prominent people in the OSU community. These individuals united for a common purpose: to raise money for organizations dedicated to cancer research.

Kendria Cost, co-president of the Eddie Sutton Foundation, said 28 teams participated in the tournament, and the celebrity auction generated $109,000 in donations. Teams bid for chances to choose “celebrity” guests to compete alongside them.

The group from The Bucky Tournament, which honors the memory of Cowboy football player Brian “Bucky” Utter, contributed $50,000, securing the first pick. The team selected Cowgirl golf alumna Emma Broze, who has competed on the LPGA circuit.

“She’s won this tournament before with her team,” Cost said. “So that was a good solid pick if you want to win.”

The packed “celebrity” guest list turned the Cowboy Classic into an orange-tinted version of a Hollywood event. The group featured – among many others – former Dallas Cowboy Blake Jarwin, men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton, former First Cowgirl Ann Hargis and current First Cowboy Darren Shrum.

Most of the time, they weren’t the center of attention. As former Cowboy quarterback Clint Chelf steered a golf cart, he stopped to speak to Will and his dad on the path. Gundy, his dampened orange polo shirt bearing the evidence of the kids’ water gun shenanigans, joked with the children and called them by name.

The event revolved around the survivors, both children and adults.

Kendra Kilpatrick, who has coached the Stillwater High girls’ basketball team while dealing with breast cancer, received the Super Woman Award, taking home a plaque and an orange cape.

“I know there’s so many people that are battling cancer, and for them to recognize me for this is just really special,” Kilpatrick said. “…Our family is just such a loyal and true OSU family, so to be able to do it around so many OSU greats and celebrities is really neat. It’s really special what they’re doing for cancer research and to raise money.”

The next step is determining where the proceeds will go. Cost said that decision hasn’t been finalized, but the creation of the Eddie Sutton Foundation allows the funds to potentially benefit local organizations.

“I can tell you, it will be thoughtful, it will be strategic, and it will very much take into consideration what Coach Sutton would have wanted,” Cost said.

For the Hughes family, the impact of the Cowboy Classic is immediate, involving more than donations. While Will and Cora share laughs with friends, Billy and Jenny strengthen their connections with a community of parents who understand what they are going through as they anticipate the day – projected to be in January – when Will can ring the bell to indicate his treatment is done.

“We’ve come to know these people, and we can get advice from them, and they’ll ask advice from us on certain things about treatment and stuff like that,” Billy said. “It becomes a good close network of people to have.”