Marcus Lattimore receives one more chance to run the ball

It was another chance to tote the football.

How could Marcus Lattimore say no?

“It’ll be awesome,” the former South Carolina star said on Thursday. “I can do pretty much anything I want training-wise, so it’ll be great to have that football running into Williams-Brice Stadium. Lot of good memories there.”

Lattimore is participating in the annual “Game Ball Run,” sponsored by the Sigma Nu fraternities at South Carolina and Clemson, on Friday. The two fraternities join each year to carry the ball from one campus to the hosting stadium of that year’s rivalry game, members taking turns along every step of the approximately 150-mile journey.

Lattimore will be joined on the last leg of the run by USC coach Shawn Elliott. They will deliver the game ball to USC officials at George Rogers’ statue.

The event raises funds for the Marcus Lattimore Foundation and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s All In Team Foundation. Swinney and his wife, Kathleen, ran the first leg of the stretch when Sigma Nu left Clemson on Thursday afternoon.

“We knew that Clemson was going to do the All In Foundation, so in February we discussed the Marcus Lattimore Foundation,” said Craig Almond, 21, president of USC’s Sigma Nu chapter and a public relations major. “It’s gone great in years past. I think this year was really the good solid year where we could sit and open up and look at some things, and wonder where else could we take this?”

The run began in 1980 as strictly a USC event. Sigma Nu members ran the ball to Clemson and if the rivalry game was in Columbia that year, they would run the ball to Athens for the Georgia game. It began as a way to raise money for a family friend that had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Clemson’s chapter got involved in the 1990s and the current format was born. A chartered bus follows the runners – usually one with the ball and one or two others behind him – so the other members can rest and then switch out. The two chapters meet halfway (Greenwood) and exchange the ball, which USC will receive around 4 a.m. Friday.

Once the ball gets to the Sigma Nu house at USC’s Greek Village, the entire chapter, led by Lattimore and Elliott, will run the last leg. While it’s still a week before the rivalry game, the event was planned for this week due to students being away for Thanksgiving next week.

Anyone in the community is invited to participate in the last leg with the chapter. They’ll start at 12:45 p.m. Friday from the Sigma Nu house at 515 Lincoln St., and finish at the Rogers statue at approximately 1 p.m. Donations can also be made at sigmanudeltachapter.com.

Lattimore is looking forward to the event and what it can contribute to his foundation. He also credited Sigma Nu and Swinney’s foundation.

“Those (Sigma Nu) guys are first-class and I’m just excited to partner with those guys,” Lattimore said. “I’ve heard great things about (All In). Maybe we can work together in the future.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 2:48 PM.