Jun 15, 2010 8:34:25 AM

NCAA institutions often make news for their athletics programs' devotion to giving back to the communities in which they reside. Division III schools made news recently with contributions to relief efforts in Haiti after a January earthquake devastated that country.

But other notable outreach efforts had taken place, as well.

A Kut for the Kause: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy head football coach Mike Toop recently took 35 players to Brooklyn to help one of their "teammates." The Mariners "adopted" Mikey Weinstein, a 4-year-old with pediatric brain cancer, last fall before their homecoming game against Susquehanna. Mikey and his family attended the game and helped cheer the Mariners to victory.

On May 22, though, Toop and his student-athletes had their heads shaved at a "Kutting for the Kause" event sponsored by St. Baldrick's, an organization that raises money for cancer research. The original goal was $20,000, but USMMA football helped St. Baldrick's raise more than $35,000 in the continuing effort to find a cure for cancer.

The football team adopted Mikey through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, which pairs children suffering from pediatric brain cancer with collegiate athletics teams.

"Mikey has attended football games, practices, basketball games and spring practice as much as his health would allow," Toop said. "He has been an incredible inspiration to the entire football program."

Moravian gives more: Moravian student-athletes answered the outreach call in a big way this year.

On behalf of the WBCA's Pink Zone initiative against breast cancer, the Moravian women's basketball team raised the most funds of any Division III team in the nation.

And in April, the Greyhounds' football team registered more than 450 new, potential bone marrow donors for the Be the Match bone marrow campaign, far more than schools with much larger student bodies in the region (the Moravian enrollment is about 1,600 full-time undergraduates).

"Without our players, the drive would have had minimal success," said assistant football coach Jeff Pukszyn, who coordinated the drive. All day long, registrants lined up inside the Moravian field house to fill out forms and offer cell samples, swabbing the inside of their cheeks. The national bone marrow registry is used to find matches for patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases that can be cured or alleviated by bone marrow transplants.

The Moravian women's basketball team, led by coach Mary Beth Spirk, has raised more than $25,000 for breast cancer awareness over the last eight years. But this year the team was inspired to do more after the mother of player Amy Heffner succumbed to cancer.

"It brought us closer together, on and off the court. We dedicated our season to her, and the entire Moravian community embraced our efforts," said Spirk.

Through penny wars, T-shirt sales, and raffles held at the February Pink Zone game, which packed in 687 attendees, the Greyhounds raised more than $6,100 for the cause, the most of any Division III team. They were honored at a national event held in early April.

Advantage, Trine: Trine tennis coach Bill Maddock takes teaching the sport seriously. In 13 summers, Maddock and his players have held youth camps that have attracted more than 500 students in grades 2-12 to instruction.

"Most of these kids have never seen a court or tennis pro, and for some of these kids it's the only week of the year they play tennis," Maddock said. "But it amazes me as an educator how much they remember."

"It's a great asset for the community," said Brad Stevens, director of the park where the camps are held. "It's a life-long sport that we are introducing to kids. While they may never play in high school or college, it's something they can do for the rest of their lives."

Whether it's a fun drill like "king of the court," where students battle to hold serve against aggressive defenders, or just taking the time to engage students personally by calling them by name, "the kids thrive on it and somehow Bill is able to assign names to faces year after year," Stevens said. "We think it's wonderful that we can have a coach like Bill and his players invest in our community and our kids."

"The kids always remember me, and I quickly remember them," Maddock said. "It keeps me mindful of what it takes to teach young people. As a physical education professor I ask, ‘Am I teaching them to play, or they teaching me how to teach?' "

More Division III news

CAC honors longtime Marymount AD and coach: Longtime Marymount (Virginia) Athletics Director and women's basketball coach Bill Finney, along with wife Judy Finney, the longtime Saints' senior woman administrator and sports information director, were honored at the Capital Athletic Conference annual summer meeting.

The CAC board of directors announced that beginning in 2011, the annual award to the top women's basketball coach in the conference will be known as the Bill Finney Women's Basketball Coach of the Year Award.

Finney, one of the founders of the CAC in 1990, saw his teams dominate the early years of the conference on the way to compiling 553 wins in 27 seasons. The Saints won the first seven and 11 of the 20 championships in CAC women's basketball.