North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Another Successful Shopping Spree
12/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
RALEIGH, N.C. – The competition was so fierce, you would have thought that there was a job in the starting lineup at stake.
Ten NC State football players – all in good fun, of course – competed to see who could get the greatest value of toys stuffed into their Walmart shopping carts, during the third-annual NC State football- Coca-Cola Toys for Tots shopping spree.
The players spent a grand total of $12,347 at the Walmart on New Hope Church Road on enough toys to nearly fill the back of a Marine transport truck.
There were only a handful of guidelines. Players could only fill one shopping cart. They were encouraged to buy gifts worth less than $15 and asked not to buy electronics, video games or DVDs. And, despite the multitude of hulking masculinity among the shoppers, they were asked to get as many toys for girls as they got for boys.
For the second year in a row, placekicker Josh Czajkowski bought the most merchandise, a total of $2,128.76, easily out-buying senior tailback Toney Baker ($1,682.54) and wide receiver Owen Spencer ($1,680.95), and more than doubling his total from last year.
Czajkowski had all year to think about his strategy to defend his title.
"You have to go for the little stuff," he said. "Just because it is smaller doesn't mean it is less valuable. That way you can get more stuff in your cart.
"The important thing is, every little thing you get here means something to somebody."
Sterling Lucas was piling hands full of Golden Books into his cart. He thought putting educational reading material was just as important as toys.
"You gotta have some books in there," Lucas said. "Anything to help them get started reading."
This is the third year that the Wolfpack has paired with Coca-Cola to fund the shopping spree. Coke donated $500 for every touchdown NC State scored in its first 10 games this season ($21,500) and fans were asked to bring new, unwrapped toys and/or cash donations to the NC State-Clemson game.
In all, some $40,000 in cash was raised through Coke's contributions and fan donations to benefit local families in need.
In three years, NC State football as raised more than $100,000 for the program and collected thousands of toys to be distributed around the holidays to families. Last year alone, the local region distributed more than 80,000 new toys in its nine-county region.
"We hope to give even more this year," said Marine 1st Sgt. David Crafton, program coordinator for the local Toys for Tots campaign.
It was an hour-long feel-good excursion at the beginning of mid-year exams.
"This is an important event," said Baker, the Wolfpack's leading rusher in 2009. "It's a kid's dream to come in here and pick out any toy to buy. Price doesn't really matter. You just get the kind of toys you remember playing with."
Baker concentrated on anything related to cars: Hot Wheels, Transformers and so forth. He picked out some board games, a few dolls and a thick stack of NC State football calendars. By the time he was finished, the cart was stacked higher than his - but not backup quarterback Mike Glennon's - head.
The participating players were: Czajkowski, Baker, Spencer, Glennon, Lucas, Audie Cole, Julian Williams, Jeraill McCuller, DeAndre Morgan and Koyal George. Assistant coach Don Horton also attended, along with head coach Tom O'Brien's wife, Jennifer, and several Marines, representatives of Coca-Cola and Wolfpack Sports Marketing.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
