Editor’s note: This story has been changed to accurately reflect the total of funds raised and contributors to those funds.
Relay for Life always has been a part of Greg Dowdy and Kelly Knupfer’s relationship.
Relay for Life gives Spartan perfect opportunity for proposal
Physiology senior Greg Dowdy first revealed his like for communication senior Kelly Knupfer at a Relay For Life event when the pair was in high school. Because Relay For Life has continued to be an important part of their lives — Dowdy currently is the president of Spartans Fighting Cancer and Knupfer is the event chair of Relay For Life — Dowdy decided that this year’s Relay event, which took place Friday and Saturday at Ralph Young Field, would be the perfect place for him to propose to Knupfer. Along with fellow Spartans Fighting Cancer committee member Jackie Viselli, a political science junior, Dowdy and Knupfer discussed their proposal.
It was at a Relay for Life event in high school when Knupfer, a communication senior, first learned Dowdy, a physiology senior, liked her.
Because of its importance in their six-year relationship, Dowdy said he realized this year’s event was the moment he had been waiting for to propose to Knupfer.
“I knew immediately that Relay was the place to do it,” he said.
Dowdy said the annual event, which took place on Friday and Saturday at Ralph Young Field, allows those who have been affected by cancer to come for celebration and support, raising money to help find a cure.
And his plan went off without a hitch. Despite a downpour of rain that began just as Dowdy arrived on the uncovered stage, he got down on one knee and popped open the ring box, and Knupfer said, “Yes.”
Dowdy began to plan the proposal a few months ago and decided to take to the stage on the night of the event to make an announcement asking for attendees to gather around for what he described as “special entertainment.”
“It will be one of those fun things that will be a very natural story for me to tell because it’s the story I’ve experienced for almost the past six years,” Dowdy said before the proposal.
Since they began dating their junior year of high school, the couple has participated in the overnight event.
They began just as attendees, but Dowdy said he and Knupfer became more involved with the event, taking on planning and leadership positions as they got older. Dowdy now is president of Spartans Fighting Cancer, a campus organization whose premier event is Relay for Life, for which Knupfer is the event chair.
This year, Dowdy said about 1,800-2,000 people attended Relay for Life, Spartans Fighting Cancer and MSU Greek Relay raised about $350,000 combined for the American Cancer Society, which was about $30,000 more than last year.
Although he thought he had done a good job of covering his tracks, Dowdy said beforehand he was unsure if Knupfer was suspicious of his proposal plans.
“She’s got this knack of predicting the unpredictable,” he said.
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But Knupfer said she was clueless up until the event. When Dowdy led her onstage, she said a proposal was the last thing on her mind, and she was afraid he was going to invite her to sing karaoke.
“I still thought that he was just going to sing a song or something,” Knupfer said.
“And then about three-quarters of the way through, I was like, ‘Oh, this is happening. OK.’ … It was really exciting though. I was shaking the entire time.”
Spanish and secondary education sophomore Elizabeth Grima said she teared up as she watched Dowdy propose.
“The way that he told the whole story of how they first started the relationship at Relay for Life and how he connected it to the proposal was so cute,” she said.
“I don’t think he could have done it any better.”
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Dowdy said Relay for Life and the people involved with the event have become like family to him and Knupfer. He partly chose to propose at the event so their Relay for Life family, as well as members of his and Knupfer’s immediate families, could be a part of the special moment.
Knupfer said she was glad Dowdy chose the event for the proposal.
“My family is really everybody that’s at Relay,” she said. “I’m just really happy that everyone was here to share it with us.”
Political science junior Jackie Viselli, who attended the event, said she was excited for the couple and to see the plan’s success.
“I thought it was perfect,” Viselli said.
“They are both the most committed people ever to Relay for Life. … It was a great place for them to celebrate their relationship and their love.”
But even with the engagement excitement, Knupfer said she and Dowdy still had plenty of Relay for Life business to attend to throughout the rest of the event.
“We’re probably going to be frantically running around doing Relay stuff,” she said. “But it’s going to take a long time for the excitement to wear off.”
Dowdy said Relay for Life has been an important event because both he and Knupfer have had family members who have been diagnosed with and died from cancer.
“I hate to see anyone have to go through something like that,” he said.
“It’s such a devastating diagnosis. … I started Relay as just something to do with my friend in high school, but it’s taken on a greater meaning.”
