BOULDER — Ryal Jagd remembers handing out pink bracelets to his football teammates in high school. He remembers people asking what they were for, and he explained that they were to help raise awareness for breast cancer, a disease he became intimately familiar with after his mother had been diagnosed.
Now, a decade later, Jagd looks back with a deep sense of gratification — not just because his friends wore the bracelets, but because the symbolism of the color and the awareness it has generated for breast cancer has become so prevalent.
“I remember worrying that it would become a fad, that people would wear pink just because they saw their favorite NFL team wearing it, or their favorite NBA player,” said Jagd, currently an assistant coach for the Colorado volleyball team.