This sack meant more for fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich.
Following his third sack of the season, Winovich flashed a crown symbol with his hands after taking down Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson. This crown was special for Winovich. It was meant to honor his friend, Kate Palermo a Michigan student who had been in the hospital in Chicago fighting leukemia.
“I knew we were playing at Northwestern and she probably wasn’t going to be able to go. I wanted to do something to help make it special,” Winovich said. “So, I threw up the crown, which her mom helped me with.”
Winovich wanted to make it special for Palermo as he knew it would special for her. The crown was the symbol he chose because it represented Palermo’s sorority at Michigan, Zeta Tau Alpha. Zeta Tau Alpha’s logo is an aqua crown to go along with their motto of “Seek the Noblest.”
It was a noble act for Winovich to honor Palermo with this symbolic gesture.
Winovich met Palermo in the hospital in Chicago prior to the season during the Big Ten Media Day. Another friend suggested sending an item to Palermo but Winovich wanted to meet her in person. With that opportunity, he spent 20 to 30 minutes with Palermo and her family at the hospital.
Palermo was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and began chemotherapy in 2013, and then relapsed in December 2016 when she finished another round of chemotherapy, according to a Chicago Tribune article. She began at the University of Michigan in 2017, but she relapsed again in March 2018.
After a rough patch, Winovich said Palermo’s trajectory is headed upward.
“She took a bad turn about a month ago and things weren’t looking very good,” Winovich said. “But thankfully she’s coming back and things looking a lot brighter now.”
Meeting with Palermo taught Winovich a lot right before his final season as a Wolverine began.
“It’s amazing as a fellow Michigan student, how much passion she has for the school and especially for the football program, all the smack talk she gave to all the other nurses,” Winovich said. “Everything about it inspired me. I left with a greater appreciation for not only life, but just the mission this team was on."
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