GIBSON CITY, Ill. (WCIA) – Sunday afternoon was one many kids in and around Gibson City won’t soon forget.
The GCMS Red Army held its third annual Camp of Champions, an event dedicated to raising funds for a worthy cause each year. The camp also benefits from the participation of well-known former Falcons.
“I always say I’m unsure who enjoys this more, the younger ones or the older ones,” said Susan Riley, GCMS Red Army representative and event organizer. “We truly have a wonderful time together.”
Roughly 60 kids attended the cheer/ football camp. Registration was $10 with all proceeds going to Gibson Area Food Pantry.
Among the volunteers were former GCMS standout running backs Aidan Laughery, now with the Illini, and Mitch McNutt, both contributing to a memorable day for the aspiring Falcons in cheerleading and football.
“It’s really special, to be from here and get to do things like this” Laughery, who enters his junior year with Illinois after rushing for more than 500 yards in 2024, said.
It wasn’t just GCMS alumni helping out. Ther wasn’t much convincing needed from Laughery to get his teammate Hank Beatty, an Illini wide receiver and Rochester native, to tag along.
“It was good to see all the little kids, you know, smiling and having fun and playing football” Beatty said.
Many attendees were decked out in GCMS gear. Others sported Aidan Laughery’s Illinois jersey.
“Seeing, you know, little kids, especially just coming home, little kids wearing my jersey and it meeting a lot of them, signing their jerseys- It’s special,” Laughery said. “I’m just a kid from here who has worked really hard and set an example that, you know, kids from here, if you work really hard, you can that can be you too.”
“Great kid, great guy,” Beatty said of Laughery. “Just does things the right way. And I think that those kids and people around here know that about him.”
Recent Purdue graduate Ben Freehill was another former GCMS star helping out. He signed autographs, even for those in orange and blue.
“You can grow up in a small town and if you just put the work in… You can be at the highest level,” Freehill said. “And hopefully that took something from today that they can use to make them better.”
Freehill and the Illini players in attendance put the Big Ten rivalry on hold to unite for the red and black. At the end of the day…
“It’s all about Falcon pride,” Riley said. “And knowing that GCMS is a really good place, whether you’re five or whether you’re 25. It’s a good place and we always claim them.”
Riley says the annual event has raised nearly $2,000 for charity in the last three years.
