Wilmington College’s sport management program collected $1,086.47 from a variety of fundraising activities this winter in support of the Pat Summitt Foundation’s battle against Alzheimer’s disease.

The students, in conjunction with WC’s women’s basketball team and its coach, Jerry Scheve, staged five activities, including a basketball game raffle drawing, video game tournaments, euchre tournament, Valentine’s Day candy-grams and a “pie-a-baseball-player” attraction.

Daniel Kelly, director of the sport management program, credited his students for the fundraising success, which marks the second year they raised at least $1,000.

“I am proud of their diligence in learning such a practical skill as fundraising,” he said. “I believe the experience of raising funds for such a worthwhile cause as the Pat Summitt Foundation will go a long way as the students prepare for the transition from college to the professional working environment.”

Scheve was especially pleased since it involved women’s basketball legend Summitt, whom he met when she visited the College in the mid-1990s while recruiting for the University of Tennessee during a high school post-season tournament played at WC.

“Pat Summitt is the most successful women’s basketball coach of all time, and I’m very honored that our team was used as a vehicle to help raise money that will assist in finding a cure for this devastating disease,” Scheve said.

Kelly noted that students’ staging these outside-the-classroom activities is part of a course curriculum that “embodies the institution’s mission of hands-on experiential learning and hands-on living with career-oriented experiences.”

(PICTURED: Women’s basketball coach Jerry Scheve (LEFT) and Daniel Kelly, director of sport management, display on representative version of the check going to the Pat Summitt Foundation.)