When Ryan Brown set out to start up Cody’s first-ever “Celebrities Against Cancer” softball game, his expectations were modest.

“I was expecting something small, just to get it going, just to see how it worked,” Brown explained last week. “And it’s exploded.”

Roughly two dozen celebrities and athletes — including actor Harrison Ford, musician and entrepreneur Kanye West and former MLB All-Star Denny Neagle — have all agreed to participate in a nine-inning charity softball game on June 13.

“I would get ahold of one, and it would just lead to another one,” Brown said of calling celebrities. “It’s crazy, because none of these guys know who I am or know me and they’re like ‘yeah’ — just wanting to say yes and wanting to be a part of this.”

Tracking down celebrities generally involved just reaching out to them directly, though it took a more circuitous route to get Harrison Ford to sign on as a coach for the game; Brown said he got in touch with the famed Star Wars actor through a Cody friend in the movie industry, whose mother happens to be engaged to a stuntman who has served as Ford’s stunt double.

Meanwhile, Brown solicited West’s participation by simply dropping by the businessman’s new Yeezy headquarters on Big Horn Avenue in Cody.

“I just went out there one day and he [West] was there,” Brown explained.

Other celebrity softball players set to play or coach include:

• Powell native and former NFL tight end Chris Cooley;

• former Atlanta Braves closer John Rocker;

• animal expert and TV personality Coyote Peterson;

• actress and Cody High School graduate Hannah Barefoot;

• former World Championship Wrestling President Eric Bischoff;

• current University of Wyoming quarterback Levi Williams;

• top bullfighter Dusty Tuckness of Meeteetse; and

• Brendan McDonough, the lone survivor among the Granite Mountain Hotshots from the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona; the other 19 members of McDonough’s team died in the wildfire, a story later told in the movie, “Only the Brave.” Brown called McDonough “a real life hero.”

The June 13 game, set to start at 6 p.m., will be preceded by a home run derby and followed by a concert from Bobby Chitwood. More than 1,100 tickets have already been sold, Brown said, and less than 200 remain, all in the Upper Hill section that overlooks the Cody Legion baseball field.

Brown thinks the final tickets will sell quickly, and “when they’re gone, they’re gone. Truthfully, I didn’t even think we’d sell half of what we did.”

The event will also include a “Dinner on the Diamond” banquet on the night of June 12 for the celebrity participants and sponsors, while former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker is set to host a series of youth pitching clinics in Powell on June 11.

Celebrities Against Cancer proceeds will be split evenly between Cody Regional Health’s Big Horn Basin Cancer Center and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Brown picked St. Jude’s because of the “awesome,” free care it provides to children, and the Cody cancer center because he wanted to give back to his own community.

Brown’s goal is to raise $50,000 — $25,000 for each — and he had already amassed $44,000 as of early last week.

The cause is a personal one for Brown, who lost his father to cancer 11 years ago.

“Cancer, it affects everyone,” Brown said. “Even if you’ve never had cancer, you know someone who has. ... It’s one of those things that doesn’t skip anyone, really.”

Brown’s father received care at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and an initial diagnosis of perhaps a few months to live became two years.

“They did so much for my dad. They gave him extra time,” he said, adding, “So I’ve always wanted to give back.”

A longtime softball player, Brown wanted to come up with something unique that could draw a large crowd and “this is what I came up with.”

While it may soon be too late to find tickets, “we’d love to get a ton more sponsors,” he said. “I mean, that’s more money for St. Jude and the [Big Horn Basin] Cancer Center.”

Organizers are taking care of hotel rooms for the celebrity participants and their families as well as providing some extra curricular activities, Brown said — including the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Cody Nite Rodeo, fly fishing and perhaps a drive to Yellowstone National Park.

More information about the event — including a full roster of celebrity participants — and tickets can be found online at www./bit.ly/3aXuRGu, while information about sponsorships can be found at www.bit.ly/2Wf11ZZ.