North Carolina State University Athletics
Rallying Support for NC State Baseball
4/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
For years, Jonny Cannon and his family were part of super-fan John Ward’s support group, “The Friends of NC State Baseball.” During games, Ward led them in duck calls and insults directed at opposing teams. Occasionally, they would pool some money together and treat the team to a picnic or barbecue. But when Ward died a couple years ago, “The Friends" lost some steam. Last fall, Wolfpack baseball coach Elliott Avent asked Cannon to revive the group, which was reborn as "The Rally Club." In only a few months of existence, the club already has more than 120 members and is raising money to enhance Avent’s program. Today, they will make their first official donation, presenting a check to Avent at Doak Field at Dail Park prior to the Wolfpack’s 7 p.m. contest against No. 4 North Carolina. Cannon, a regional sales representative for Loading Dock Systems of the Carolinas, wouldn’t reveal how much the check will be for, but said it was more than double what the group had hoped to give. He also said the final three digits of the amount are 407, representing each of Avent’s victories as NC State’s head coach. GoPack.com managing editor Tim Peeler talked with Cannon about the Rally Club and its mission.
GoPack.com: Is the Rally Club kind of a lasting-legacy to Mr. Ward and his “Friends of NC State Baseball”?
Cannon: Obviously, the white seat at Doak among all the other red seats and the duck calls you hear during games are a constant reminder of Mr. Ward’s presence. He was known as the Chairman of the Board for “Friends of NC State Baseball.” We will always honor his foresight, vision, energy and leadership in getting something like this started. The Rally Club is a different, more formal direction of what he started. We have been real careful to bridge the old and the new. GoPack.com: What is the mission of the Rally Club?
Cannon: The Rally Club is a newly formed organization this year that has grown out of an organization called “Friends of NC State Baseball” that was founded by John Ward, who passed away a few years ago. We decided to kind of pick up the torch that he passed down to us, formalize things a little more than they were and try to get members. We already have more than 110 members. This is really our first few months out there. We really hope that after this weekend the awareness is going to be really high. The Charter Members are going to be on the field to present the check.
GoPack.com: Will the donation go into the baseball operating budget?
Cannon: We have very carefully kept (NC State director of compliance) Jon Fagg in on everything we are doing. The check will be made out to the NC State athletics department, but it will be earmarked for the baseball program.
GoPack.com: What are your intentions for how the money should be used?Cannon: Because this is the first check and the first few months of the organization’s existence, we are kind of waiting on Coach Avent and the athletics department to decide if they want us to start compiling money for us to tackle a project or make a further enhancement to the stadium. We want these funds to be something extra for the baseball program for things that are necessary to put Coach Avent and the program in a championship position. That is going to take extra funds.
GoPack.com: So this is not just for operational funds, right?Cannon: We want this donation to be an enhancement, something that will help grow the program. One thing we are going to do is that we are going to do is help purchase the pictures that were part of the NCSU Libraries exhibit on NC State baseball last year. Those pictures have been purchased and placed in the stairwells of the baseball operations center. We are going to give some of those monies to that project and give them a proper home.
GoPack.com: What is the makeup of your membership?Cannon: The membership is made up of dedicated folks, there are some older members that were from John Ward’s group, “The Friends of NC State Baseball,” there are a lot of parents of players and support folks, and there are some folks that have been to the new facilities we have at Doak Field at Dail Park and are excited about being part of something special.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
