Louisiana-based Grambling alumni in the Monroe area, at first, just wanted some face time with the athletics director.
They invited then-AD Al Dennis III over to a now-closed local all-you-can-eat place, and a new tradition was born.
“An Evening with the GSU Athletic Department,” now half a decade old, has grown by leaps, then bounds.
Hundreds of supporters are expected for Thursday night’s event, moved in 2008 to the Civic Center complex in Monroe. That first night, they donated $350 back to Grambling athletics; these days its several thousand dollars.
Yet one thing, organizer Ezzard Burton says, remains: “This is a personal thing: We can sit down and make contact with coaches, and the AD. One of the highlights is still the session for questions and answers.”
Sponsored by the Monroe-Ouachita chapter of the Grambling National Alumni Association, the free event will be held from 6-8 p.m. in the civic center’s Fort Miro Room.
Burton said school president Horace Judson has attended each year the event has been held. J. Lin Dawson, new athletics director at Grambling, and head football coach Rod Broadway are also expected, he said.
Broadway and Co., along with GSU’s perennially successful track team, are to be honored for their championship performances in 2008-09.
“That’s one thing,” Burton said. “Grambling’s track team has been phenomenal. They have been very been consistent over the years.”
The chapter, led by president Charles Scott, also recognizes every-day boosters for their contributions to the Grambling legacy – among them Mackie Freeze, Lucious Martin and Curtis Armand.
“That’s more than 150 years of support to Grambling athletics right there,” Burton said. “Each year, we’ve honored more and more of these people who worked and lived in Ouachita Parish but who have enhanced the program.”
Donations will again be accepted, then handed over to the GSU athletic department. Door prizes will be given away, including tickets to GSU’s annual in-state rivalry game against Southern University at the Louisiana Superdome, the Bayou Classic.
“It’s been really nice to see where it started, as a conversation, and then to have to move to this level,” said Burton, who worked on the initial idea with a group that included Larry Mason, as well.
“It’s at a point now where we might be able to leapfrog this thing – maybe make it a regional event, bringing in other area chapters to grow,” he said. “We just want to do whatever we can to increase funding, increase awareness and help the athletic department in any way we can.”
GET IN THE GAME:
“An Evening with the GSU Athletic Department”
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2009
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Location: Civic Center Fort Miro Room, 401 Lea Joyner Memorial Expressway, Monroe
Information: Ezzard Burton at 318-343-3313 or 318-680-9057 or Jonathan Williams at 318-323-3910.
No comments yet.