COOPER CITY, FLA. (WSVN) – Ahead of game day in South Florida, a local father and daughter aren’t playing around when it comes to defeating cancer, so much so that they’ve put their football rivalry aside for a bigger goal.
Jeff and Skylah Klein’s story of rivalry has come full circle. Neverheless, they still find themselves on opposing sides of Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship pitting Jeff’s beloved Indiana Hoosiers against Skylah’s hometown team, the Miami Hurricanes.
“You couldn’t script a better story. You couldn’t script a better situation,” said Jeff.
Jeff graduated from Indiana University, and his daughter went to the University of Miami.
“For as long as I can remember, I supported the hoosiers, because that’s where my dad went to school, grew up with red and white in the house, on the TVs and being Hoosiers fans,” said Skylah.
Which wasn’t a problem, until the National Championship was set.
“It’s come to life, we’re on the biggest stage in college athletics, arguably in sports in general,” said Skylah.
“To be on this stage, in this serendipitious moment, is unbelievable,” said Jeff.
Father and daughter rooted for each other for years. Face to face, it’s a different story.
“We’re not even sitting together, I’m sitting amongst Hoosiers; she’s sitting amongst Canes,” said Jeff.
But when the lights go down, they are united where it matters most to them: the fight against cancer.
“When I moved to my new job in 2022, Javier from the [Dolphins Cancer Challenge] said, ‘Hey, you gotta reinvent yourself.’ I took the challenge,” said Jeff.
Jeff and his college friends began riding in the Dolphins Cancer Challenge in honor of their close friend Dave, who survived colon cancer in 2016 and has battled leukemia since 2019.
What started as a small group grew quickly, now riding as the “Hoosier Odyssey.”
“It started with five college friends from Indiana, from all over the country, I’m proud to say that four years later, we’re a team of 60,” said Jeff
But it isn’t just the Hoo.
“We’re Hoosiers, we’re Hoosiers family, Hoosiers friends, we’re Canes for Hoosiers, we’re Noles for Hoosiers,” said Jeff.
Skylah’s first DCC was in 2020, and when the “Hoosier Odyssey,” began she joined in.
“We participate in the 5K, which is awesome, because we get to be a part of the cause and join the fight for cancer,” said Skylah.
Jeff, now a board member of the DCC, has taken part in the challenge for nine years, raising over $500,000 since starting in 2018.
“It’s just proven that cancer and the impact is so much larger than sport, college,” said Jeff.
So while Jeff and Skylah will root against each other on the field, they hope to defeat cancer together.
“Two universities raising a lot of money for Sylvester, working really hard together to fight this terrible disease, and we’re really proud of that,” said Jeff.
In February, the father-daughter duo will ride together to support cancer research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at UM’s Miller School of Medicine.
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