May 17, 2010

CLEVELAND – The National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) has announced its 2010 Lifetime Achievement, Donor of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Fund Raiser of the Year Awards. Each recipient will be honored Wednesday, June 23 at the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Luncheon, held in conjunction with the 45th Annual NACDA Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.

The 2010 NAADD award recipients are as follows: Lifetime Achievement Award - Don Winston, University of Southern California; University Division Donors of the Year - Mike and Pat Case, University of Tulsa; College Division Donor of the Year - Lois Mitchell, University of British Columbia; University Division Volunteer of the Year - Jack Rossi, West Virginia University; University Division Fund Raiser of the Year - Jim Hall, Georgia Tech; College Division Fund Raiser of the Year - Todd Kelly, Colorado State University Pueblo.

2010 NAADD Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Don Winston, a former NAADD Fund Raiser of the Year recipient, became senior associate athletics director at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1989.

His most carefully-crafted and successful project came in the form of the Galen Center in 2006, when an all-time high $75 million was raised for the 10,528-seat basketball and volleyball facility. Winston secured a $50-million lead gift from financier and alumnus Lou Galen to build this $147 million, 300,000-square foot complex.

Everything in the Galen Center and pavilion was named, including the offices, locker rooms, weight room, training facility, dining rooms and the basketball floor. Even the outside event sign was sold for $2 million and brick artwork on the outside of the building went for $300,000 each. Additionally, Winston and his staff, along with a group of volunteers, sold Galen Center seat licenses from $2,500 to $10,000 per seat (and seating sections for $250,000 to $1 million each).

The USC athletics department is now raising more than $35 million annually. During USC’s Campaign for Excellence (completed in 2003), Winston helped the athletics department raise 40 percent more than its goal. Also, numerous scholarship endowments have been established during Winston’s tenure, totaling in excess of $135 million, which includes USC having 68 of its 85 football scholarships endowed at $500,000 each. Winston was the first fund raiser in the country to start a program to endow football positions and raised the funds to endow the head football coach and head track coach at USC.

2010 University Division Donors of the Year Mike and Pat Case’s contributions to the University of Tulsa’s (TU) athletics department can be easily seen across the west side of the TU campus. Thanks to their generous donations, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center was born, and a year later was dubbed the finest tennis facility in the nation by the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

In 2005, a lead gift from Mike and Pat led to the construction of the 29,000-square-foot, $10 million, state-of-the-art Case Athletic Complex. The end zone facility serves as the home for TU football and provides academic support facilities for all TU student-athletes. The Case’s are members of TU athletics’ annual fundraising arm, the Golden Hurricane Club, and Mike is a member of the University of Tulsa Board of Trustees. Also, their children have established the Mike and Pat Case Scholarship in Business to honor their parents’ commitment to education and community.

The TU athletics department has greatly benefited from the Case’s donations, but the true measure of their value to the department comes in the example they have set for other community members and alumni. Thanks to their spark, others have followed in their footsteps, actively engaging in TU athletics development.

Look no further than the 2010 Winter Olympics to see the impact that 2010 College Division Donor of the Year Lois Mitchell has had on the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) athletics department. With her $10 million commitment to secure the naming of UBC’s new ice hockey facility, the home of 2010 Winter Olympic competition, Mitchell was able to ease the burden of the athletics department’s contribution to the project and honor her husband, Doug Mitchell.

In 2005, a gift of $10,000 established a scholarship for a member of the UBC women’s hockey team in the name of Hayley Wickenheiser, a long-time friend of Mitchell’s and arguably the best female hockey player Canada has every produced.

Although she left UBC’s physical education field of study after two years when her husband joined the Canadian Football League, Mitchell has, from her home in Calgary, remained very committed to the institution. Transitioning from a successful teaching career to a very successful business career, Lois finds time to host numerous events and dinners on behalf of UBC Athletics, the Faculty of Law and the UBC Alumni Association; she recently joined the University president’s advisory committee on UBC’s $1.5 Billion campaign.

The volunteer work that 2010 University Division Volunteer of the Year Jack Rossi has put into the Mountaineer Athletic Club has greatly benefitted hundreds of West Virginia University (WVU) student-athletes through the creation of the Club’s largest fundraising event.

“Summerfest,” the semi-annual event held for the 1100 club, which benefits football recruiting at WVU, has raised more than $1 million over the last seven years. The completely volunteer-staffed event includes a high dollar raffle, silent and live auctions, food and drink, live entertainment and interaction with the football coaching staff. Not just limiting his generosity to football, this past summer, Rossi took the blueprint for “Summerfest” and held the first “Huggsfest” to benefit men’s and women’s basketball recruiting and the efforts to build the WVU Basketball Practice Facility. The event, which raised $700,000, proved to be the largest single fundraiser in Mountaineer Athletic Club history.

In addition, Rossi’s commitment to the state of West Virginia and the WVU community shows through his heavy involvement with the WVU Cancer and Children’s Hospital, the Childhood Language Disorder Association in Charleston, W.Va., and his service to the WVU Alumni Association and various university boards.

2010 University Division Fund Raiser of the Year Jim Hall has been with Georgia Tech since 1998, currently holding the position of associate director of athletics for development. Prior to his position at Georgia Tech, the University of California Berkeley (undergraduate) and University of Oklahoma (graduate) alumnus served in his current role at Indiana State University, where he was directly responsible for all intercollegiate athletics fund raising activities, as well as the letter winners association (I - Club). While obtaining his master’s degree in Norman, he worked in the development office and helped start the Sooner Club.

What he has been able to accomplish for Georgia Tech and the Athletic Association the last few years amid economic uncertainty has been remarkable. Among the non-ticket benefit commitments Hall has been able to help obtain include one gift at $17 million, two at $10 million, one at $8 million, three at $3 million, three at $2 million and eight at $1 million. Just this past year, he raised more than $15 million from individuals—including one $10 million gift that has potential for another $5 million in the near future.

Additionally, Hall has been involved in increasing unrestricted annual donations and was instrumental in the recent implementation of the TECH Fund. The TECH Fund is the donation component associated with the purchase of high demand season tickets for football and basketball, and it has added approximately $4 million annually to the Athletic Association.

Throughout his six years as associate athletics director for development and major gifts at Colorado State University Pueblo, 2010 College Division Fund Raiser of the Year Todd Kelly’s efforts in fundraising have been integral in feats such as the reinstatement of the football, wrestling and women’s track and field programs, as well as the construction of the Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl, Division II’s premier football and track facility.

Kelly’s responsibilities include identifying and cultivating contributions for CSU-Pueblo athletics from alumni, friends, corporations, organizations and foundations. He also handles the department’s season ticket sales, the Spank Blasing Run/Walk, the Lobster Bake and the ThunderWolves Golf Classic. In these three development initiatives, Kelly has increased the participation and donations to $85,000 from 1,000 individuals and businesses.

In just this past year, Kelly has raised more than $600,000, with $450,000 coming from the CSU-Pueblo Corporate Partner program, which Kelly oversees. Additionally, the Wolf Pack Club Scholarship drive received $178,000 in donations from 210 donors in 2009, up from $90,000 and 137 in 2005.

About NAADD: NAADD is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities, enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics development and fund raising. For more information about NAADD, please visit www.naadd.com. NAADD is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 45th year. For more information on NACDA and the 11 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.