They’ll tailgate, drink beer and go on road trips. They’ll do all the things proper fan clubs do. But Roaring Riot also wants to do good. So it was fortuitous timing when, just 10 days after the club announced it was expanding its reach, a Panthers fan landed on the set of “Ellen.”
After his nationally televised appearance, the story of Braylon Beam, a six-year-old from Denver, N.C., quickly went viral throughout the fan base. Roaring Riot founder Zack Luttrell started getting messages from members
eager to help, and that’s how Friday night’s event was born.“Roaring Riot Brings it 4 Braylon” is a raffle and fundraiser for the Beam family. Among the festivities: the now-famous fan will become an honorary member of the Roaring Riot.”We feel like he possesses all the traits and characteristics of what we look for as far as being a die-hard fan, and obviously, he’s living the ‘Keep Pounding’ motto,” Luttrell said.After doctors found a tumor in Beam’s brain in February, he and his father made a plan to counter the down days caused by chemotherapy. They’d dance through it all. Since then, Beam’s bravery has inspired others.The staff at Presbyterian Medical Center, where his mother is a nurse, pooled money to send the Beams to Disney World for a week. The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Panthers teamed up to schedule a day during training camp where he’ll act as head coach. The team’s actual head coach, Ron Rivera, invited him to be a “Keep Pounding” drummer before one of this season’s home games. And now, the Roaring Riot has stepped up.Not only will Beam become a member of the fan club Friday, but thanks to a donation by the Charlotte Checkers, he and his family will also be presented with an all-expenses-paid trip to watch the Panthers open the season in Jacksonville.“This was a good opportunity for us to pick up a fellow Panther fan, and for us to come together as a community just after we’ve launched this whole Roaring Riot thing to try to do something to raise awareness and raise funds,” Luttrell explained.When Luttrell announced early this month that the Charlotte group would be combining with a half-dozen satellite chapters across the country, his goal was to find 1,000 new fans in a year. Just three weeks later, he’s already more than halfway past that goal. In a few days, those numbers will include Beam, and when the young fan and hundreds of others dressed in Panthers black and blue descend on Jacksonville in September, the Roaring Riot will be heard.“My vision is to not just be this group of guys sitting around at a bar pounding beer watching the Panthers,” Luttrell said. “It’s really to be this loud community and group that supports one another and does things for one another and extends well beyond football.”Roaring Riot Brings it 4 Braylon
- When: Friday, May 29 from 6-8 p.m.
- Where: Dilworth Neighborhood Grille
- Tickets: $10 in advance (link); $12 at the door. Includes two beers and one raffle ticket
- 100 percent of event and raffle ticket sales will go to the Beam family
- $5 from every Roaring Riot Membership sold at the event will be donated to the Beam family
- For fans who can’t make the event but would still like to contribute, Roaring Riot has set up a GoFundMe campaign