Teddy Bear Toss coming to Kansas basketball and Allen Fieldhouse

By Matt Tait     Dec 12, 2018

If you’re one of those people who has a fear of teddy bears or hated that Mark Wahlberg movie, “Ted,” and are planning to be at Allen Fieldhouse for [Saturday’s 11 a.m. showdown with Villanova,][1] you might want to make sure you’re not in your seat at halftime.

That’s when KU officials will give the go-ahead for Jayhawk fans to fire teddy bears and other stuffed animals onto the Allen Fieldhouse floor as a way to collect cozy companions for children in need this holiday season.

Officially dubbed the Kansas Men’s Basketball program’s Teddy Bear Toss, all of the stuffed animals collected will be donated to Toys for Tots.

While Saturday will mark the first time that the Kansas basketball program has jumped into the Teddy Bear Toss game, it’s far from a new idea.

In fact, the Hershey Bears, an AHL affiliate the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League, recently hosted their latest version of the event and it was a sight to see.

Fans at the 10,000-seat Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., tossed 34,798 stuffed animals onto the ice after the Bears’ scored their first goal during a recent home game.

That haul broke the team’s record of 25,017, set last year, and also shattered the world record of 28,815 set by the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen in 2015.

With that bar set pretty high, it ought to be interesting to see what KU’s final number is on Saturday.

While it’s hard to imagine more than 30,000 stuffed bears making their way into Allen Fieldhouse this weekend, the Jayhawks do have more than 6,000 more spectators at their home games than the Hershey Bears so you never know what’s possible.

For those of you who can’t make it to Saturday’s game, [KU has set up an enter-to-win contest][2] where one lucky winner will receive two tickets to the game, a giant, KU-themed teddy bear and select KU Adidas gear.

Here’s a quick — and incredible — look at Hershey’s Teddy Bear toss from earlier this month.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/dec/11/kansas-vs-villanova-may-look-different-t/
[2]: https://kansas-jayhawks.activation.umbel.com/47a/teddy-bear-giveaway/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.