Fourth annual Athletic Auction raised $56,000

By Caleb Bowers
Staff Writer

The Georgia College and State University held it’s 4th annual Athletic Auction and reverse raffle over Spring Break on Saturday, March 23, 2002.
The first athletic auction was started four years ago as a way to raise scholarship money for the athletes at GC&SU. This year’s auction turned out to be the most successful one held yet, with a grand total of $56,000. The first year that the auction was held it raised $19,000, the second year it raised $30,000 and last year they raised $50,000. The money that was raised will go to the athletes who made a score of 1100 or above on the SAT or hold a 3.2 GPA.
Dr. Stan Aldridge, the athletic director at GC&SU, said, “We’re very proud of our athletes here at GC&SU, and we wanted to do something that would help us reward them for their efforts in the classroom.”
Last fall, the athletes at GC&SU achieved an average GPA of 2.84, which was higher than the student average.
Each year the auction has been held, they’ve had a different theme. This year’s theme was “A Night at the Races.” With NASCAR being a popular sport in the Baldwin County area, it was decided that doing a NASCAR theme would be exciting and create an interest in this year’s auction. At the auction, a special appearance was made by the former NASCAR driver Ernie Erving along with the Bill Elliot Dodge simulator car.
Aldridge said, “I think the crowd really enjoyed having Ernie Erving there because he did a good job at making it fun by walking around and visiting the different tables of people.”
When asked about the Bill Elliot Dodge simulator car, Aldridge said, “I was really impressed with the simulator because once you were in it you felt as if you were really driving a NASCAR.” At the auction, Erving started out the night by getting in the car and setting a high score. This worked out well for the event because it gave the people there something to measure their scores by. In fact, even our president Dr. Rosemary Depalo took a turn at driving the simulator car. Brad Muller, the director of sports information, said, “I think everyone that went had a good time, and that’s the important part because we want them to come back.”
When asked about attendance for the night Aldridge said, “I believe we had about 400 there.”
For $100, one could receive, two seats at the auction and one ticket for the reverse raffle and if a company or business wanted to pay $500, it would reserve them a table for eight people along with two tickets for the raffle. For the person who decided to come at the last minute, they could pay thirty dollars at the door to get in. Some of items that were auctioned off were a few trips and getaways to some of the beaches down in Florida and a trip to Hilton Head. There were also some golf outings given away at some of the top golf courses in Ga.
Muller said, “It’s interesting how there are always a few items that go for a lot more than you would think, such as labor work and other things.”
The item that auctioned off for the most money was an in-ground sprinkler system. The grand prize winner of the reverse raffle went to Betty Smith, who walked away with $5,000. Muller said, “It’s always fun to watch the reactions on the people’s faces as it gets closer to the grand prize winner.”
The Athletic Department at GC&SU could not have had the auction unless the community had been willing to donate the items that it did. Muller said, “We’re fortunate that we always get a lot of good support from the community and the local businesses, they’ve always been good about donating things that we can put up on the auction block.” The Athletic Department looks forward to hosting another great auction next year in the spring.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 5 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry