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NCAA News Archive - 2006
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Notre Dame student-athletes don toolbelts for relief
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By Leilana McKindra
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
At the University of Notre Dame, fall break usually arrives just after midterms, and for many students it represents a well-earned opportunity to relax before heading into the semester’s stretch run. However, some Fighting Irish student-athletes elected to use their week-long break to help with the ongoing recovery efforts in New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Fifteen student-athletes and five athletics administrators, including Athletics Director Kevin White, made the trip from South Bend, Indiana, by bus and spent the week of October 14-18 completing a variety of tasks such as sealing leaky roofs, cutting trees and debris and clearing out homes of debris and ruined belongings. It was the first time a group of student-athletes and administrators had participated in a service trip together.
The idea to head south took hold after a representative from the School of Urban Mission, a Christian service and academic institution, spoke to Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The student-athletes wanted to do more and lobbied Charmelle Green, director of student-athlete development and welfare at the school, and other administrators for the opportunity.
After receiving approval from the NCAA and funding from alumni for the initiative, the group engaged in long hours of physically punishing labor while in the city. But the consensus was that the effort was worth it.
“Last year, I could only help through money contributions,” said Kelly Gaudreau, a member of the lacrosse team, “It was a good feeling to actually be there, talking to the victims, and hearing their stories. The best part was being able to see the results of our contributions.”
Beagle had worked a remarkable 930 consecutive men’s basketball games at Baruch before missing the November 11 contest against Yeshiva University because of health issues. A retired accountant and former Baruch sports information director, Beagle had worked every Bearcat men’s game since November 1969. His recent absence was just the second since the program was established nearly 40 years ago. He also missed the eighth game of the 1969 season due to a business trip to Ohio.
Beagle, a 2006 inductee into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame, has been recognized for his diligence in a host of media outlets over the years, including the New York Times, New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated. He continues to serve as an associate baseball coach at Baruch and is sports information director for the Catholic High School Athletic Association in New York City.
At least the game Beagle missed had a happy ending. Baruch won the game, 74-64.
Oregon State makes Santa’s sleigh a Humvee.
The Oregon State University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee wanted to ensure that Santa did indeed visit American troops in Iraq this Christmas.
As part of Operation Santa, student-athletes at Oregon State and other Pacific-10 Conference schools set out to provide care packages for Marines stationed in Iraq for the holidays. The goal was to gather enough food, toiletries, DVDs, books and other gifts for 10 platoons of Marines.
The initiative was launched in October under the direction of Oregon State basketball student-athlete Kyle Jeffers, who is a member of Oregon State’s SAAC and co-chair of the university’s Student Alumni Association. He helped get both of those groups involved in the outreach. In addition, all but one of the league’s schools also sent items collected on their campuses to Corvallis to be included in the larger drive.
Ultimately, the effort resulted in enough donations to fill 57 boxes that collectively weighed more than 1,900 pounds, which Jeffers said far exceeded the operation’s goal.
Jeffers said the initiative was originally started by a friend two years ago. He assisted last year by getting the SAAC and Student Alumni Association involved.
“I was really just going to help out with it like I did last year,” said Jeffers. “Then I found out that the lead person wasn’t going to do it again. I introduced the project to SAAC and we decided to take it on. I became lead on it, but SAAC has helped me a lot on it.”
Fifteen student-athletes and five athletics administrators, including Athletics Director Kevin White, made the trip from South Bend, Indiana, by bus and spent the week of October 14-18 completing a variety of tasks such as sealing leaky roofs, cutting trees and debris and clearing out homes of debris and ruined belongings. It was the first time a group of student-athletes and administrators had participated in a service trip together.
The idea to head south took hold after a representative from the School of Urban Mission, a Christian service and academic institution, spoke to Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The student-athletes wanted to do more and lobbied Charmelle Green, director of student-athlete development and welfare at the school, and other administrators for the opportunity.
After receiving approval from the NCAA and funding from alumni for the initiative, the group engaged in long hours of physically punishing labor while in the city. But the consensus was that the effort was worth it.
“Last year, I could only help through money contributions,” said Kelly Gaudreau, a member of the lacrosse team, “It was a good feeling to actually be there, talking to the victims, and hearing their stories. The best part was being able to see the results of our contributions.”
Baruch statistician’s streak is one for the record books
For the first time since Richard Nixon was president and the New York Jets were on their way to becoming the champions of Super Bowl III, the Baruch College men’s basketball team recently played without one of its standout performers — longtime statistician Burt Beagle.Beagle had worked a remarkable 930 consecutive men’s basketball games at Baruch before missing the November 11 contest against Yeshiva University because of health issues. A retired accountant and former Baruch sports information director, Beagle had worked every Bearcat men’s game since November 1969. His recent absence was just the second since the program was established nearly 40 years ago. He also missed the eighth game of the 1969 season due to a business trip to Ohio.
Beagle, a 2006 inductee into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame, has been recognized for his diligence in a host of media outlets over the years, including the New York Times, New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated. He continues to serve as an associate baseball coach at Baruch and is sports information director for the Catholic High School Athletic Association in New York City.
At least the game Beagle missed had a happy ending. Baruch won the game, 74-64.
Oregon State makes Santa’s sleigh a Humvee.
The Oregon State University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee wanted to ensure that Santa did indeed visit American troops in Iraq this Christmas.
As part of Operation Santa, student-athletes at Oregon State and other Pacific-10 Conference schools set out to provide care packages for Marines stationed in Iraq for the holidays. The goal was to gather enough food, toiletries, DVDs, books and other gifts for 10 platoons of Marines.
The initiative was launched in October under the direction of Oregon State basketball student-athlete Kyle Jeffers, who is a member of Oregon State’s SAAC and co-chair of the university’s Student Alumni Association. He helped get both of those groups involved in the outreach. In addition, all but one of the league’s schools also sent items collected on their campuses to Corvallis to be included in the larger drive.
Ultimately, the effort resulted in enough donations to fill 57 boxes that collectively weighed more than 1,900 pounds, which Jeffers said far exceeded the operation’s goal.
Jeffers said the initiative was originally started by a friend two years ago. He assisted last year by getting the SAAC and Student Alumni Association involved.
“I was really just going to help out with it like I did last year,” said Jeffers. “Then I found out that the lead person wasn’t going to do it again. I introduced the project to SAAC and we decided to take it on. I became lead on it, but SAAC has helped me a lot on it.”
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