At the Southern Conference men's soccer championships in November, more than just a conference champion is crowned at the College of Charleston soccer complex. The event also helps save lives.

For the past five years, the tournament has been held in conjunction with the local Rotary Club's Gift of Life program, which raises money to save the lives of children around the world who would otherwise die without heart surgery.

Since the program began sponsoring the conference, more than $100,000 has been raised for the Rotary International District 7770's Gift of Life program.

"We think connecting our conference championships to charitable causes is a good way to do business," said Geoff Cabe, senior associate commissioner of the Division I-AA conference headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina. "I think just knowing that you're involved in such a great program that is saving lives, while providing a tremendous experience for your student-athletes and a wonderful tournament for your student-athletes, is the best of both worlds."

Ralph Lundy, head men's soccer coach at College of Charleston, came up with the idea for the partnership when he met a young Bosnian boy who had been brought to this country by the Rotary Club for life-saving heart surgery. The boy was a soccer fan and spent some time with Lundy and his team during his recuperation period.

"I got real involved," Lundy recalled. "The kid was great and I could see how much his involvement with our team meant to him."

Lundy said after that experience, he knew he had to do more.

"It just hit me right upside the head that I had the chance to help kids who were going to die," he said.

M. Dawes Cooke Jr., who is on the board of the Rotary's Gift of Life program and has served as the tournament director, helped put together a bid to host the championships, along with College of Charleston. The club agreed to provide all operating funds for the event, including hotels and other expenses for the teams, with all extra funds raised going directly to the Gift of Life program.

"It's pretty amazing when you think about it," Cooke said of the amount of money raised. "We really planned to do it for just one year and then they said, 'Well, can you do it for two more years,' and one thing led to another. We had hoped we could raise a lot of money as a one-shot deal, but it has surprised me that we have been able to do it for five years in a row."

Dawes estimates that about 20 children have been given a new lease on life thanks to the money raised through this program. Most of the children come from overseas, from countries such as Mongolia, Panama, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Palestine, though a few years ago the money also went to help a South Carolina boy who needed a heart transplant. The boy who received the transplant was honored at midfield during the following year's tournament, which happened to fall on his birthday, and given autographed jerseys from the teams, as well as other gifts.

Lundy and Dawes said the response from the student-athletes has been strong and they have gone above and beyond to connect with the children who need help. Though the partnership has generally only involved the men's tournament, one year the women's tournament was involved as well.

"The student-athletes responded in the best way. Every time I could get them with Gift of Life kids they reacted and responded in the very best way," said Lundy. "Really, I was trying to give them that lesson about helping others. In Rotary, we call it service above self, and every time our student-athletes from every school responded the way I thought they would. They were really champions because they did see the value of helping."

Dawes said the student-athletes have gone to visit the kids at the children's hospital where the surgeries are performed, and one year the Davidson College soccer team took up their own collection and made a donation to the program.

"The teams like to meet the kids and come to the hospital and think that they're doing more than just playing," he said. "(The response) has been very strong from the kids and from the parents as well."

Cabe said the conference might explore extending this type of charitable partnership to other championships it holds.

Lundy said they will be taking next year off from the joint sponsorship to regroup their efforts and enlist the help of new volunteers and sponsors, but he hopes to resume the venture in coming years.

"I'm committed to the program forever," he said. "I'm also committed to helping our student-athletes learn the value of helping people."