POCATELLO, Idaho- When Idaho State student-athletes
Garrett Crane,
Daxton Carr and
Raemo Trevino along with former Highland High and current Ohio State defensive lineman Tommy Togiai planned their Kneel for Nine Unity Walk they had no idea how many people would show up.
"We wanted to have 50-100 people and have our buddies record it," Crane said. "We had drones up in the air. We just wanted people to know that we could all come together as a full community. We wanted to come together and show the country that we can do this. We far exceeded what we thought we could do. When we saw people coming in at 5:45 we were like WOW."
It was estimated that around 1,000 people from the Pocatello Community showed up for the March from the Bannock County Fairgrounds to the Portneuf Wellness Complex. Once at the Wellness Complex everybody took a knee for nine minutes of silence in respect for George Floyd, who was killed in justly by Minneapolis police officers.
The crowd then heard from the student-athletes as well as other leaders in the community.
"We have a problem with black Americans getting killed in justly," Trevino said. "Areas out here where it is predominantly white people, we wanted to raise awareness that they can do something about it. This isn't a major city by any means but if a local town like this can come together, why can't all of America.
Coming together is exactly what Pocatello did and a big reason for it is because of the excellent relationships community leaders have with the Idaho State student-athletes.
"We knew we had to get a hold of Chief Schei and Tony Manu (Bannock County Sheriff) before we do anything," Crane said. "If we get the police force behind us that will look great for the community. I messaged Tony on Facebook messenger. Raemo messaged Chief Schei. Thirty minutes later they said meet with us at the Bannock County Police Office."
It was there the four student-athletes not only sat in front of Schei and Manu but also the head of ISU Public Safety, members of the Idaho State Police and other local law enforcement personnel.
"We talked about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to change it to a unity walk," Crane said. "We wanted to bring everything together. We didn't want it to sound like a protest. We wanted to bring everyone together. We wanted to make a change. This world is too dark right now. We need some light. Chief Schei always says light always shines over darkness. It is breath taking. I can't believe it."
 With the help of law enforcement a plan for Wednesday was put together in less than two days.
"For these guys to come in that room and say this is what we want to do is awesome," Schei said. "We started bouncing ideas off each other. Putting it together about safety things from how we are going to do it from speakers to the podium. I said you guys will probably need an agenda. I told them they need to have a mission. State your mission so the community knows what it is. They did exactly everything we talked about and we did it together."
After a walkthrough the morning of the event it was show time. When people started showing up at 5:45 p.m. for a 6:20 event, all involved in the planning new they were in for something special.
"We set a tone and showed that Pocatello could come together for the greater good," Idaho State basketball player
Daxton Carr said.
 "It was breathtaking," Crane added.
"That was better than I could ever expect," Schei said. "A truly humbling day from the turnout of the community to the players reaching out to us. It is all about the strong relationships. Truly when you here the statement of, 'This is How We Roar', that is how we roar."
Trevino added, "Amazing. It was more than we bargained for initially. This is an issue people care about and what we need to take a part in. It was great that a lot of the Bengals could come together, from our community to our police to fight this cause."
