FormerPokeCenter
October 15th, 2012, 09:22 AM
The 24 Hours of Booty rolled this past weekend in Atlanta and thanks to some incredibly generous college football fans on this board and the Southland Conference boards, I finished as the runner-up in individual fundraising with roughly $7400.00 My bike team raised $75k this year and 80k last year. As an organization, the 24HOB raised more than 2 million dollars this year, with rides in 4 cities. In the 11 year history of the event, 24HOB has raised over 9 million dollars...it's doubling in size and in funds raised almost every year...
The guy who was the top fundraiser in ATL this year is an amazing guy named Brian Hevesy. Brian's in his late 50's and is a huge Purdue fan. We got to toss a football around a little in Bootyville, the tent city that participants stay in during the ride. Over the last two years, Brian's raised nearly 30K for the 24HOB and previously raised 41k for an American Cancer Society event.
The hightlight of the weekend for me was getting to introduce Brian to a guy named Bob Funderberg. Both guys have amazing survivor stories, being the beneficiaries of bone marrow transplants. Brian is a stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor who received a transplant in 2005, while Bob is a stage 4 leukemia survivor who received his bone marrow transplant in 2009. 18 months after getting his transplant, he and a friend rode an unsupported bike ride form Boston to Key West. At the 18 month mark, most transplant recipients would just begin to think about getting back on the bike for the first time. This guy goes out and rides over 2000 miles! It was really cool to see those guys together - who've both gone and met their bone marrow donors - and to realize that without organizations like the Hendrick Bone Marrow Transplant fund (a 24 Hours of Booty beneficiary charity) or Be The Match (also a 24 HOB beneficiary) neither would be here today....The funds you guys raised will help ensure that there are other wonderful survivor stories like that!
You guys were amazingly generous and incredibly helpful. I can't thank TheRev enough for not only his great initial donation and his subsequent challenge, but also for his commitment in making a year-long recurring gift. Thank you also to Ursus for letting us keep the threads about the ride in the forefront.
And, huge props to everybody who donated and sent the shirts in!
I didn't spend as much time on the bike as I would have liked to, as I'm nursing an issue with a knee that I've had rebuilt. I tweaked it this summer in Master's Track and it decided to swell up to about three times it's normal size on Saturday...I rode the parade lap and a few others but the course was technical and had some challenging hills, so it was a little too much for the knee this time around.
I did take photos with the great shirts you guys sent in and I TRULY appreciate the support. Yes, I did actually ride wearing the Obama shirt, but - fortunately - it wasn't a smedium!
Thanks to Citdog and Emory Hunt for their great shout outs on The Wedge, and thanks for posting the great interview with Andy Talley. I also got a great shout out from AGS poster "Kubwambe," aka Patrick Netherton, who is the Update Anchor on The Tim Brando show, seen nationally on CBSSportsNetwork.com, and broadcast by Yahoo Sports Radio.com and on both Sirius 94 and XM 206. Tim Brando kept our team jersey and some 24HOB swag on his desk last week. Very cool!
After listening to Coach Talley, I've now got a great idea for next year but I'm still fleshing out the details.
You guys rock!
17015
Here I'm wearing 94 in honor of current McNeese defensive end Everett Ellefsen's mom, fellow McNeese grad Cris Bleich who made the trip in from San Antonio is riding in honor of my former teammate Louis Dooley, who lost his battle with cancer last year and occasional AGS poster Wes Stone "ArmchairQB97" is wearing 71 in honor of my former teammate Archie Moore, who succumbed to cancer several years ago. Big ups to McNeese equipment manager Nick Boudreaux for getting the jerseys to us before the ride!
17016
Receiving the Runner-up award for individual fundraising. AGS posters raised $2100 of the $7400 I finished with! You guys rock!
17017
Me and Brian Hevesy in Bootyville
17018
Me in the Obama Shirt...with a Romney shirt over it! ;)
The guy who was the top fundraiser in ATL this year is an amazing guy named Brian Hevesy. Brian's in his late 50's and is a huge Purdue fan. We got to toss a football around a little in Bootyville, the tent city that participants stay in during the ride. Over the last two years, Brian's raised nearly 30K for the 24HOB and previously raised 41k for an American Cancer Society event.
The hightlight of the weekend for me was getting to introduce Brian to a guy named Bob Funderberg. Both guys have amazing survivor stories, being the beneficiaries of bone marrow transplants. Brian is a stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor who received a transplant in 2005, while Bob is a stage 4 leukemia survivor who received his bone marrow transplant in 2009. 18 months after getting his transplant, he and a friend rode an unsupported bike ride form Boston to Key West. At the 18 month mark, most transplant recipients would just begin to think about getting back on the bike for the first time. This guy goes out and rides over 2000 miles! It was really cool to see those guys together - who've both gone and met their bone marrow donors - and to realize that without organizations like the Hendrick Bone Marrow Transplant fund (a 24 Hours of Booty beneficiary charity) or Be The Match (also a 24 HOB beneficiary) neither would be here today....The funds you guys raised will help ensure that there are other wonderful survivor stories like that!
You guys were amazingly generous and incredibly helpful. I can't thank TheRev enough for not only his great initial donation and his subsequent challenge, but also for his commitment in making a year-long recurring gift. Thank you also to Ursus for letting us keep the threads about the ride in the forefront.
And, huge props to everybody who donated and sent the shirts in!
I didn't spend as much time on the bike as I would have liked to, as I'm nursing an issue with a knee that I've had rebuilt. I tweaked it this summer in Master's Track and it decided to swell up to about three times it's normal size on Saturday...I rode the parade lap and a few others but the course was technical and had some challenging hills, so it was a little too much for the knee this time around.
I did take photos with the great shirts you guys sent in and I TRULY appreciate the support. Yes, I did actually ride wearing the Obama shirt, but - fortunately - it wasn't a smedium!
Thanks to Citdog and Emory Hunt for their great shout outs on The Wedge, and thanks for posting the great interview with Andy Talley. I also got a great shout out from AGS poster "Kubwambe," aka Patrick Netherton, who is the Update Anchor on The Tim Brando show, seen nationally on CBSSportsNetwork.com, and broadcast by Yahoo Sports Radio.com and on both Sirius 94 and XM 206. Tim Brando kept our team jersey and some 24HOB swag on his desk last week. Very cool!
After listening to Coach Talley, I've now got a great idea for next year but I'm still fleshing out the details.
You guys rock!
17015
Here I'm wearing 94 in honor of current McNeese defensive end Everett Ellefsen's mom, fellow McNeese grad Cris Bleich who made the trip in from San Antonio is riding in honor of my former teammate Louis Dooley, who lost his battle with cancer last year and occasional AGS poster Wes Stone "ArmchairQB97" is wearing 71 in honor of my former teammate Archie Moore, who succumbed to cancer several years ago. Big ups to McNeese equipment manager Nick Boudreaux for getting the jerseys to us before the ride!
17016
Receiving the Runner-up award for individual fundraising. AGS posters raised $2100 of the $7400 I finished with! You guys rock!
17017
Me and Brian Hevesy in Bootyville
17018
Me in the Obama Shirt...with a Romney shirt over it! ;)