North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Wolfpack Student-Athletes Extend a Generous Hand
1/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Jan. 23, 2006
BY Tim Peeler
RALEIGH - Last fall, as the Gulf Coast suffered through several natural disasters, the members of the NC State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee wanted to do a little more than collecting money at football games and giving used clothing to families in need.
So they voted unanimously to donate a portion of NC State's allotment of the Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund to assist other student-athletes affected by Hurricane Katrina.
It took some time to find the proper way to make the donation, under NCAA guidelines, but Monday NC State announced that it will give $15,000 to the student-athletes at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss.
"The generosity of the N.C. State student-athletes is overwhelming," Southern Mississippi director of athletes Richard Giannini said. "I give a lot of credit to the N.C. State student-athletes for seeing students from another school in need and unanimously voting to give money that is in place to benefit them. I also want to thank Jon Fagg, N.C. State's Associate Athletics Director for Compliance, for recognizing that our own funds would be quickly depleted helping our student-athletes, and with his support, this generous gift was made."
The Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund, which is fed by revenues from the CBS television contract to air the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, is a cash reserve that gives direct benefits to student-athletes or their families that are in need. Each Division I school gets a set amount of money, to be used at the discretion of the institution for the benefit of its student-athletes.
"We hated that Southern Miss and its student-athletes had to go through Hurricane Katrina and everything associated with it," Fagg said. "We are excited that our student-athletes voted unanimously to take it upon themselves to reach out and help in the manner in which they did. There wasn't a question about it, they were thrilled to do it. We played Southern Miss on the football field last fall and decided they would be the ones that would benefit from the gift. We are just hoping that this will catch on among more schools."
The student-athletes chose Southern Miss because of the two schools' scheduled football game on Oct. 29 in Raleigh. However, the donation was delayed until now, pending NCAA approval.
According to the school, Southern Miss sustained some $300 million in damage when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and New Orleans last August. More than half of the school's student-athletes were from declared disaster areas.
"The most wonderful part about this is that our athletes decided to do it on their own," NC State director of athletics Lee Fowler said. "Nobody asked them to do that. Our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee that advises the athletics department decided we ought to do that. Credit it all to the student athletes. It is money they get through the NCAA and they decided to give it to Southern Miss.
"What better feeling can you have than given something to someone who is in a tough situation? Our student-athletes did that."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
