Jett Fein '05

While Lance Armstrong's yellow "Live Strong" bracelets have infiltrated American homes and workplaces, at Deerfield, green rubber "Gordie" bracelets seem to be the newest fashion trend.

But the bracelets have a powerful story behind them.

On September 17, L. Gordon Bailey '04, a freshman at University of Colorado at Boulder was a victim of severe, alcohol related hazing, and subsequently died of acute alcohol poisoning.

Bailey's family established The Gordie Foundation in response to his death. The goal of the foundation is to educate students and parents about alcohol poisoning, the dangers of binge drinking, and alcohol-related hazing.

On its newly-established website, the foundation states that "the mission of The Gordie Foundation is to stop hazing in any form and to provide advocacy for zero-tolerance laws against hazing across the country."

The foundation identifies two fundamental problems in American society. The first is that "most people lack awareness about alcohol's psychological effects." The second problem the foundation examines is that "our culture inadvertently condones binge drinking."

To help raise funds to solve these problems, friends of Bailey's especially Charlie Denihan '04, created bracelets similar to the popular yellow "Live Strong" bracelets.

Denihan admits that Gordie's sister, Lily, inspired him to create the bracelets. He said, "She made a bracelet that said WWGD [What Would Gordie Do] on it. This inspired us to try and find a company that made bracelets much like the Lance Armstrong ones so that we could sell them to spread awareness of the foundation, Gordie's great life, and the dangers of alcohol poisoning."

Denihan contacted Image First Specialists and ordered hundreds of bracelets. "I designed the bracelets in Deerfield green since there was no place (besides maybe Texas) that Gordo loved more." Denihan recalls.

The green bracelets premiered during the football game between Deerfield and Choate Rosemary Hall during Choate Day on November 13. Up and down the sideline, alumni and friends of Bailey sold the bracelets for $3 each.

The money raised through the bracelet sales will benefit the foundation's efforts to set up programs and speakers to educate people on the hazards of binge drinking and hazing.

Michael Lanahan, Bailey's stepfather said, "His family can't live with anger and revenge, so it formed a foundation dedicated to education about hazing and alcohol poisoning."

Although the bracelets are just a first step in funding and spreading the message of the organization, the foundation hopes they will serve as a symbol to prevent future drinking tragedies.

"I believe if things keep going as they are, and nobody tries to educate [students], then we are going to be seeing a lot more unnecessary deaths like Gordie's," Denihan said. 'This stance and effort to educate the youth of America is exactly what the foundation is trying to do."