Megan Dills

By LARRY VAUGHT

Megan Dills wants to combine her love for University of Kentucky basketball with a way to help cancer research in honor the memory of her father, Carl Dills.

“I am holding a design contest for a swimsuit,” said Dills, a UK fan from Grant County and a Playboy model. “The suit will be in my favorite blue, UK blue. The swimsuit will be called ‘The Cure’, in memory of my dad  and all proceeds of the swimsuit will go to cancer research.”

She plans to take design submissions through Jan. 31 at curechallenge@yahoo.com and the winning design will receive $500.

She got her swimsuit idea from a Playboy model from Australia who has done a similar thing.

“She names all her swimsuits. I wanted a swimsuit named the ‘Cure’ and just got a wild hair and decided to do it myself,” Dills said. “All the proceeds will go to cancer research in honor of my dad.

“I am pretty excited about it. I want a two-piece bikini design. Nothing scanty, just a normal two-piece suit anybody can wear. There can’t be anything that says UK or anything like that on it. It has to be UK blue.”

She hopes to have both a “high end” swimsuit that could sell for $200 and a more moderate swimsuit that could sell in the $30 range.

Dills, who gained national attention after she was knocked down at Indiana when IU fans stormed the court after the Hoosiers’ win over Kentucky, knows she likely will need to model the swimsuit when the winning design is picked.

“I hope to get some of my model friends to wear it and even some at the Playboy Mansion,” she said. “I would love to be able to go to spring break and give out suits to college girls to make it a sea of blue. It’s just one of these things I feel very passionate about because of my dad, who died last year. I really want to make this work and also give UK fans something else kind of special for them.”