{"id":1656320,"date":"2026-01-02T16:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/?p=1656320"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:20:32","slug":"florida-panthers-enlist-stars-for-unique-cancer-fundraiser-showing-it-off-at-winter-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/sports\/florida-panthers-enlist-stars-for-unique-cancer-fundraiser-showing-it-off-at-winter-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Panthers enlist stars for unique cancer fundraiser, showing it off at Winter Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MIAMI (AP) \u2014 For their latest project, the Florida Panthers signed Wayne Gretzky, Martina Navratilova, Michael Bubl\u00e9, Dustin Johnson and the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And they were armed with paintbrushes, not hockey sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Panthers \u2014 a few hours before their Winter Classic outdoor game at the Miami Marlins&#8217; ballpark against the New York Rangers \u2014 unveiled a couple dozen panther sculptures, all painted in a unique way and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/support\/acs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">now being auctioned off<\/a>\u00a0with hopes of raising $1 million for cancer research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gretzky commissioned a sculpture that displays some of his stats, Johnson arranged one depicting a scene from Augusta National, Bubl\u00e9&#8217;s is adorned in rhinestone braille, the NBA&#8217;s Heat commissioned a pair of sculptures with some of the team&#8217;s themes, artist Romero Britto painted one as well and Navratilova didn&#8217;t technically paint hers \u2014 she dipped tennis balls into paint and then served them into the panther, creating a polka-dotted splash of various colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo be able to have the privilege to reach out and make those contacts and have those folks say, \u2018Of course,\u2019 what a gift that was,\u201d Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said. \u201cIt&#8217;s just so neat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About $700,000 has been raised already, Zito said. The idea for the fundraiser \u2014 \u201cPanthers on the Prowl,\u201d they call it \u2014 is loosely built around Chicago&#8217;s \u201cCows on Parade\u201d art project. Zito and his wife Julie co-chair the Panthers&#8217; project; she is a breast cancer survivor, and Zito has lost a number of relatives to the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was my wife Julie&#8217;s idea,\u201d Zito said. \u201cAnd we lived in Chicago during \u2018Cows on Parade,\u2019 and then Romero Britto said we should auction them. I can&#8217;t take credit for any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the panthers were on display at LoanDepot Park on Friday, where about 35,000 fans attending the Winter Classic would see them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s a tear and a smile,\u201d Zito said. \u201cAnd then you think, you know what, there\u2019s a reason that everybody is engaged. There\u2019s a reason that everybody gave their time and their talent. And it\u2019s because it works and it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MIAMI (AP) \u2014 For their latest project, the Florida Panthers signed Wayne Gretzky, Martina Navratilova, Michael Bubl\u00e9, Dustin Johnson and the Miami Heat. And they<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/sports\/florida-panthers-enlist-stars-for-unique-cancer-fundraiser-showing-it-off-at-winter-classic\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188962020,"featured_media":1656322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-01-02T21:20:31Z","apple_news_api_id":"7c306134-94cf-4f8b-b067-0bbd0a9f16fa","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-01-02T21:20:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AfDBhNJTPT4uwZwu9Cp8W-g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_speedyseo_primary_category":"","_sunbeam_story_id":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1398,1378],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1600],"class_list":["post-1656320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florida-panthers","category-sports","sunbeam-copyright-the-associated-press"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Florida-Panthers-enlist-stars-for-unique-cancer-fundraiser-showing-it-off-at-Winter-Classic.jpg?quality=60&strip=color","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/188962020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1656320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1656323,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656320\/revisions\/1656323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1656322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1656320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1656320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1656320"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1656320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}