DANVERS — It’s been 10 years since the world came together under the rush of ice-cold water to support Beverly’s Pete Frates and millions of others in the fight against ALS.
On Thursday, more than 500 people gathered at St. John’s Prep to honor the school’s late alumnus by replicating the viral Ice Bucket Challenge he made popular a decade ago.
The trend led to more than $159 million raised for the ALS Association in 2014, and nearly $1 billion in the years since.
“Family is the story of the Prep and those who came before, those here now and those to follow will leave here prepared to do good,” Nancy Frates, Pete’s mother and CEO of the Frates Family Foundation, said in a statement from the school.
“How to do it is your decision. God had other plans for Pete, but he relied on the preparation he received at St. John’s to become his best self, live out his goodness and build this legacy.”
Frates graduated in 2003 from the Prep, where he was a star athlete in football, baseball and hockey. He received the Athletic Director’s award as a senior and was inducted into the Prep’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012, after he went on to captain the baseball team at Boston College.
At just 27 years old, Frates was diagnosed with ALS in 2012.
He co-founded the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 with his friends Pat Quinn and Anthony Senerchia, who have both since died from the disease.
The trend caught on like wildfire that summer after Frates posted a video of himself doing the challenge and tagged friends on social media, asking they do the same or donate to the ALS Association.
Millions of Ice Bucket Challenge videos were shared to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter in the weeks that followed. The ALS Association saw more than 260,000 new donors within 19 days of the trend going viral. Since then, the trend and the Frates Family Foundation has increased funding for ALS research by 187%, according to a statement from the Prep.
The movement also led to Gov. Charlie Baker declaring the first week of every August in Massachusetts “Ice Bucket Challenge Week,” and pushed Congress to pass the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act, which guarantees ALS patients receive Social Security Insurance without having to undergo a five-month waiting period, like before.
Frates died from his battle with ALS in 2019. He was 34, and left behind his wife Julie, young daughter Lucy, his parents John and Nancy, and his siblings Andrew and Jenn.
“Pete will always be an amazing role model of faith, resilience, perseverance, inspiration and servant-leadership,” Head of School Dr. Ed Hardiman said in the statement. “He is beloved by our community and the world for his courage and commitment to serving as a warrior for the common good.
“His strength, selflessness and determination to change the trajectory of ALS research is a legacy that has already changed lives,” Hardiman continued. “The Prep community is committed to sharing Pete’s story and empowering our students to carry on Pete’s legacy of servant leadership and advocacy.”
To recognize Frates, St. John’s Prep retired his jersey number and named its baseball field after him in 2017.
Prep alumnus Mike Pitt, the executive director of the Frates Family Foundation, said Thursday was “a full-circle event.
“I met Pete for the first time just beyond that outfield wall for freshman football practice,” Pitt said in the statement. “Pete had compassion when he got here, but the Prep nurtured that and cultivated it and ultimately, it bloomed into the Ice Bucket Challenge and the movement we’re commemorating today.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com{em}.