He's counting on Packers fans to save him from wearing a Cowboys jersey at Lambeau

Bruce Hermans has lived in Texas for 22 years but has never worn a stitch of Dallas Cowboys gear.

He doesn’t plan to start now.

Most certainly not when he’s crossing the finish line for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. That would hurt — especially for a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan from Luxemburg.

It was Hermans who came up with the idea pit Packers fans against Cowboys fans to see which side raises the most money for his Run 4 Allison fundraiser. If Packers fans come out on top, look for him in a No. 12 Aaron Rodgers jersey as he runs the final mile of the marathon through Lambeau Field on May 20. If Cowboys fans have the higher total, that’ll be him in a blue and silver ... He doesn’t even want to think about it.

“I have incredible faith in Packers fans. That they are zealous about winning at anything and especially when it comes to beating the Cowboys,” Hermans said.

Hermans, assistant principal at Coppell Middle School West just outside of Dallas, is running his first marathon to raise money for Allison Hartzell, who has been the school’s choral director for the last 10 years. The 32-year-old mother of two is battling Stage 4 oral cancer. She missed most of the second half of the last school year with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to remove part of her tongue. She returned to the classroom at the beginning of this year more determined than ever.

“She’s just the sweetest thing you can imagine,” Hermans said. “That lady is a great servant and never makes an excuse and is always smiling and always just happy to be a part of the environment and giving to the kids and just wants to be a normal person, and to this day, that’s the way she is.”

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He knew the school of 1,250 students and another 100 staff members needed to do something collectively to help her, but it was while out running a half-marathon in March that he came up with rival GoFundMe accounts tied to two of the NFL’s most popular teams.

Hartzell originally declined the offer, concerned that it might make her story too public. But a day later, she texted Hermans and said if it could help someone else by sharing some of donations with the Oral Cancer Foundation, her family was all in.

It didn’t take Hermans long to take the concept and, if you’ll pardon the pun, run with it. After getting permission from the school district, he had a website and two GoFundMe pages up and running. He enlisted students to put their social media skills to work to help get the word out and contact media outlets. He asked a Texas business to help with T-shirts for the entire school.

“You know what the great thing is? There’s Packers banners and 'Go Pack Go!' all over my halls now,” Hermans said. “All my teachers think it’s just a real subtle way for me to bring the Packers into the environment.”

They might be onto something.

Hermans does have a reputation among his Cowboys-loving co-workers and students. He lives for games in which the Packers beat the Cowboys and he can walk into school on Monday morning smiling. When friends had a party a couple of years ago for a Packers-Cowboys playoff game, Hermans got an invitation — with one condition.

“They said, ‘Bruce, you’re invited, but please, please, please, please promise you’re not going to be obnoxious.’ So I had to watch myself, but, oh man, did my arms go up and did I cheer when Mason (Crosby) made that field goal,” he said.

To help pump up exposure for the fundraiser, a teacher suggested Hermans run from the school to AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys and the site of the 2018 NFL draft. Hermans strapped a GoPro camera to his head as he ran through the school hallways, out the front doors and the 20 miles to Arlington on the first day of the draft. He got a police escort during morning rush hour and the right lane on State Highway 360 was shut down for 5 miles as cars zipped past and honked in support.

Back at school, students were using it as a learning opportunity. They weighed him before and after and compared his blood sugar levels. They calculated how the weather, hills and force of motion would impact his pace. They were excited as updates on his time came into the school via the water truck following him.

“If somebody would’ve told me I was doing this a year ago, I would’ve said you are out of your mind,” he said.

Hermans, 54, lost 50 pounds in the last two years and started running in June. He ran two blocks and had to start walking. It made him mad enough that it motivated him to run every other day until he was up to 3 miles, then 6 miles and so on. He’s run three half-marathons and, with several 20- and 21-mile runs under his belt, feels ready for the Green Bay marathon.

“I’m either in the gym or running,” he said. “I take one day off a week, otherwise I’m working my tail off trying to be as ready as I can be.”

He was happy to hear from younger brother, Todd, an experienced runner near Luxemburg, that the Green Bay course is “as flat as a pancake.” The two will run the marathon together.

“I’ve become a runner, and in my head, I”m going to do this. I am going to do it. I’ve never not run. Every single time I’ve set out to run, I’ve always hit my distance and I’ve always run it. I’ve never walked it. So that is my intention. I’m going to run it, and I’m going to finish — prayerfully.”

The goal is to raise $1 million. He knows he’s shooting big, but shooting big is his specialty. He’s reached out on social media asking Aaron Rodgers if he would like to run the last mile with him.

"Everybody’s like, ‘That’s crazy, Bruce.’ You know what? The whole thing is crazy so why not ask?”

Packers fans have some catching up to do if they’re going to get in the game. As of Monday, it was Cowboys $21,005 and Packers $4,669. Hermans, however, isn’t sweating the difference. He knew it would take longer for word to reach Packers fans.

"What I’ve told everybody all along is ... once they start catching whiff of this, they are not going to let the Cowboys win. And they all kind of giggle and laugh and say, ‘Yeah, right. You’re going to be running in a Cowboys jersey.’ I said, ‘Ha ha, just wait until the Packers fans start hearing about this because it’s going to turn into a competition.’"

The GoFundMe campaigns will remain open until Hermans hits the last mile marker before the finish line on race day. Somebody stationed along the course will hand him either a Packers or Cowboys jersey, depending on the outcome.

No matter which team's colors he’s sporting, the real victory will be seeing Hartzell at the finish line. She's going to be there. Her husband is running the marathon too.

“It’s about our fanbases saying, ‘You know what? We’re as competitive as heck, but it’s pretty cool when we can all come together under a cause and support somebody ... That we’ve all got hearts too,'" he said.

To donate

Go to run4allison.com and click on either Packers Fans or Cowboys Fans.