September 20, 2002

'Continuing the Legacy' athletic campaign
raises more than $3 million

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — "Continuing the Legacy," Indiana State University's capital campaign in support of its intercollegiate athletics program, has successfully concluded, exceeding its goal and raising more than $3 million for Sycamore athletics.

Tim O'Neill, vice president of First Indiana Bank in Indianapolis and chairman of the Athletic Development Committee of the ISU Foundation Board announced today the successful conclusion of the campaign during the board's meeting at ISU.

"Truly, our first fund-raising effort of any magnitude has ended very successfully," said Norm Lowery, president and CEO of Terre Haute First National Bank and chairman of the campaign steering committee. "We are very happy concerning the support we received for the campaign and ISU athletics. It speaks well of the athletes and our alumni and friends."

The goal of the campaign was to raise $2.65 million for scholarships for student-athletes, facilities improvements and to support various athletics programs.

"The successful completion of this first-ever fund-raising campaign for intercollegiate athletics is extremely gratifying," said J. Robert Quatroche, vice president for university advancement. "It pointedly demonstrates that ISU can clearly articulate the need for important private support and then cultivate the donors necessary to ensure meeting -- and in this case exceeding -- the campaign goal. The university is indebted to the campaign's steering committee and the major donors, friends and staff who invested their time, advice and financial resources that made this campaign an outstanding success story."

ISU President Lloyd W. Benjamin III agreed that teamwork was key in the campaign's outcome. He stressed that this new benchmark in the history of ISU will give the university confidence going into planning for its next major campaign.

"The success of Continuing the Legacy: The Campaign for Sycamore Athletics is appropriately a testimony to the power of teamwork," Benjamin said. "Reaching -- and exceeding -- our goal took the combined and concerted efforts of many loyal and dedicated people, including the members of the Campaign Steering Committee, ISU staff, and, not least, our donors, whose generosity in this instance was unsurpassed."

Jim Norton, who took on the new role of associate director of athletics for external relations in July, served as coordinator of the Continuing the Legacy campaign.

"The Continuing the Legacy Campaign has been a lot of fun to be involved with," Norton said. "The generosity, enthusiasm and passion shown by our donors has been an inspiration for me. By all accounts, this campaign has been a huge success and the student-athletes at ISU will benefit from it in perpetuity."

Norton is in his fourth year as director of athletics development at ISU. His primary duty involves directing fund-raising activities pertaining to intercollegiate athletics. As campaign coordinator, he has been responsible for achieving all goals and bringing the athletic campaign, which began in October 2000, to a successful conclusion.

ISU began laying the groundwork for Continuing the Legacy following the approval of its Strategic Plan for Fund-Raising and University Advancement in 2000. In preparation for mounting the campaign, the needs of the athletic department were reviewed and current donors were consulted. The result was the determination of a campaign goal of $2.65 million. With more than $3 million being raised, it will be invested in two areas:

• Student support -- $2.7 million to endow scholarships for student-athletes in all sports.
• Facilities -- $350,000 for renovations to current locker facilities and Hulman Center.

While much has been accomplished through the Continuing the Legacy Campaign, officials acknowledge that the hard work must continue.

"Meeting and even the exceeding goal of the campaign will indeed help us to "Continue the Legacy" of Sycamore Athletics," said Andrea Myers, director of intercollegiate athletics. "Successful intercollegiate athletics programs rely heavily on scholarship endowments. This campaign gave us a start in establishing an endowed scholarship program. Fund raising never ends and we will continue to work to enhance this component of the athletic scholarship program."

Lowery agreed that while ISU athletics enjoyed many successes during the campaign, the generosity of donors will help to ensure the continued successes of Sycamore athletics in years to come.

"Great things happened to us during the campaign," Lowery said. "One of them is the basketball team played very, very well, went to the NCAA tournament and beat Oklahoma. The track team and baseball team also certainly created an awareness of athletics at ISU. They gave us a great deal of notoriety, but also allowed us to go through a lot of doors and invite people to enjoy that success and hopefully, through their donations, perpetuate it."

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Contact:
Jim Norton, associate director of athletics for external relations
(812) 237-4444 or devnortn@isugw.indstate.edu

Writer:
Jennifer Kearns, assistant director, public affairs
(812) 237-8037 or devkearn@isugw.indstate.edu

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu