By PHILLIP MARSHALL
Times Sports Staff
OPELIKA - It was a night for remembering, a night for smiles and a night for tears.
And it was a night for the children.
The first Sydney Gran Foundation Gala raised more than $100,000 Saturday night for Children's Hospital in Birmingham and celebrated the life of the daughter of Auburn running backs coach Eddie Gran. Sydney was born with Holoprosencephaly (HPE), a condition that caused her brain to stop developing during the first three months in the womb. Doctors said she wouldn't live six months. She died last May 31, a day short of her sixth birthday.
Gran and his wife, Rosemary, have three other daughters - Hannah, Dillan and Lucy Grace. The family pulled closer than ever in support of Sydney.
"She was a blessing," Gran said. "She touched so many people. God put her here for a reason. There's no doubt in my mind about that."
Even before she died, Gran and Huntsville's Drake Nunn, a fundraiser for Children's Hospital where Sydney spent many days and nights, came up with the idea of the Sydney Gran Foundation. It would raise money for research and to help families of gravely ill children. They decided late last year to stage Saturday night's event.
Some 400 people - ordinary folks, famous athletes and coaches and community leaders - turned out. Among those in attendance were NFL players and former Auburn standouts Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Carlos Rogers, Spencer Johnson, Dontarrious Thomas and Rudi Johnson. They were joined by Deuce McAllister, who played for Gran at Ole Miss.
The players brought memorabilia, which was sold at auction to raise money for the foundation. The crowd would have been larger, but the Marriott banquet room couldn't hold more.
For Nunn, it was a sight to behold.
"That kind of support, especially for a first-time event, is unheard of," Nunn said. "The support from Auburn people says a lot about Eddie Gran, who he is, about Rosemary and their family and how Sydney touched so many people's lives."
Nunn knows what it's like to go through the pain of watching a child suffer. His youngest daughter, Julie, was diagnosed with cancer when she was 9 months old.
Like the Grans, the family - wife Linda, 10-year-old Kate and 12-year-old Will - pulled together. Julie is 6 now and has been in remission for five years.
It was that experience that led Nunn, who once owned a chain of dry cleaning stores in Huntsville and is past president of the Huntsville-Madison County Auburn Club, to go to work for Children's Hospital.
Nunn has seen it, too, in his work.
"So many times, you see families fall apart going through something like that," Nunn said. "For those kids and that family to be who they are and what they are in the public arena they are in, it is a wonderful success story."
Nunn knew of Gran from his Auburn ties, but he didn't know him personally until he learned of Sydney's story and of her fight against the odds.
They have made a deep impression.
"To do what they've done and give their time and their name and everything else is unbelievable," Nunn said.
"For them not just to put their name on it, but to go above and beyond like they have, speaks volumes about who they are."