Red Sox celebrate 10th anniversary of Ice Bucket Challenge

BOSTON — On a nearly 90 degree August day, dumping a bucket of ice water on your head sounds pretty enticing. But the more than 100 people at Fenway Park on Thursday morning would have doused themselves regardless of whether it was 90 degrees or 30 degrees.The ritual served secondarily as a way to cool off, but primarily as a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was created by the late Pete Frates to raise awareness and money for ALS research.A Massachusetts native, Boston College alum and lifelong Red Sox fan, Frates lived out many a New England kid’s dream in 2006 during his junior year of college with a home run in the Baseball Beanpot Championship at Fenway Park. The home run was cemented as Frates’ favorite college baseball memory, and the video is one that Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said he watches often.“It’s hard to express what he means to us,” Kennedy said as he shook out his hair after participating in the 2024 Ice Bucket Challenge in the outfield at Fenway Park. “I mentioned he first came on our radar in 2006 when he hit that home run in the Beanpot, and it was an eye-opener. A lot of our scouts were like, ‘Look at this kid.’ I remember him running around the bases and he did not crack a smile. It was like, ‘I’m supposed to do that.’”