Ian Clemens' Legacy: Family Kicks Off 300-Mile Bike Ride To Raise Scholarship Fund
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - A Metro Detroit family is kicking off a more than 300 mile bike ride Friday, from Ann Arbor to Mackinac Island, in memory a family member who died of a brain tumor in 2012.
Alan Clemens' son Ian had just started college at the University of Michigan when he passed away. Now, Clemens has made it his mission to raise scholarship money for U-M engineering students with an annual "Dude to Mac" bike ride.
"We do this because he can't, and we're trying to extend his legacy through the university," Clemens told WWJ's Beth Fisher. "He was always a big Wolverine fan growing up and was super excited when he got his acceptance letter to attend the University of Michigan and he just wanted to become and engineer and change the world."
The inaugural bike ride starts Friday at the Duderstadt Center on U-M's North Campus and ends five days later at the high-profile Mackinac Policy Conference, where 1,700 business, community and government leaders gather annually to chart the state's economic future.
Ian's sister, Kylee, is riding a bike along with her dad, while her mother will provide support in a vehicle.
"We're really hoping this grows into an event next year where we can have many riders riding for different scholarships at the University of Michigan and raising money for College of Engineering students that way," she said.
The money is raised through rider entry fees and other generous donations. Clemens' said he thinks his son would be blown away by this event in his honor.
"Well, I hope he would be proud of what we're doing, and I think he is. He's probably amazed that his parents would do something like this in his memory," he said.
Weeks after starting his freshman year at the University of Michigan, Ian Clemens was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor that can strike at random and without warning. Thirty-two days after his diagnosis, Ian passed away.
"Every time I get those feelings that I'm sad and I miss him, it's more of a 'Well, I don't want to dwell on it too long' because I know that's what he would say, you know, that you should go out and still enjoy things and not dwell on it," said Kylee.
If you would like to donate to the scholarship fund or for more information, visit www.ianclemensmemorialscholarship.org.