Ex-Penn State football receiver Matt Zanellato ready for Thon experience

As one of Penn State’s biggest weekends draws closer, so too does the achievement of goals by former wide receiver Matt Zanellato.

Now in his last semester of school, Zanellato heard on Jan. 18 that after two consecutive years of trying to become a dancer for the IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon and not getting his name called, he will finally be able to represent the Student Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB) at this year’s event, which will be held from Friday to Sunday.

“So I guess the third time really is the charm,” he wrote on his Twitter page last month. “I’m so unbelievably excited to announce that I will be dancing this year at Thon for SAAB.”

He has raised $17,000 for SAAB’s Thon effort, but that’s hardly his total while at Penn State.

Zanellato’s first time trying to dance was during his junior year, during which he raised $4,000 as an “independent.” The year after, he raised $4,000 through SAAB.

“A lot of people rallied behind me and helped me raise the money,” he said. “It was great to see, I mean, that’s Penn State for you. It was my last year trying to dance, my third year trying and they knew it was the last chance that I was going to have to dance, so a lot of people helped out.”

Those who donated also knew how passionate Zanellato had become about the charitable event and its satellite events after his freshman year at Penn State.

“My freshman year was my first experience with Thon,” said Zanellato. “You do Athlete Hour, then you come to the (Bryce Jordan Center) and spend time with Thon families, then we also do the Make-A-Wish tour. That’s where about 30 Thon families come to the football building and we take them on a tour throughout Lasch, which is really fun. And as freshmen, we do the pep rally so we go out there and we dance during the Athlete Hour. ...

“I kind of just realized that there was so much more that the football team could do for Thon. At Penn State, the two biggest things, in my opinion, are Penn State football and of course Thon. And I thought, ‘There are so many things we could do to work more together.’”

Zanellato thinks the team is taking “great steps” in the right direction in getting more involved with Thon. He said that the team’s second annual trip to the Hershey Medical Center over the summer is a big part of that.

Additionally, he takes great pride in having gotten to know some of the Thon families along his own journey.

“So many families I’ve met through visiting Thon, or through visiting the Athlete Hour, I’m close with so many Four Diamond families and children that it’s a lot more of a personal connection for me,” he said.

One of those is the Howe family, whose son, Gavin, had been fighting leukemia for almost 3 1/2 years before the Howes announced on Feb. 12 that he had finished his last round of treatment.

“He just finished his final cancer treatment, he’s now cancer-free,” said Zanellato, also citing another family who had announced their child as five years cancer-free. “And just experiencing that in the last week ... I mean, that means more than raising $17,000, anything does. As a community we always want to raise more money every year, and that’s kind of our goal, but just in the past few months, seeing those two families experience such joy in those two moments means so much more than whatever total is raised on Sunday.”

Zanellato plans to carb-load and stay hydrated before he’s expected to take the dance floor for almost two straight days for the event. His family is coming to support him, as well as a few friends and thousands of others expected to participate in the weekend’s events.

“A lot of people are already planning to attend Thon, but I made sure to call Spider Caldwell and tell him he has to come see me,” he laughed. “I know my family is coming up and this is their first experience with Thon.

“I’ve kind of immersed myself in the Thon community so I have a lot of support throughout the community and they’re definitely going to help me dance, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Ex-Penn State football receiver Matt Zanellato ready for Thon experience."