Colleges

Gator Gala holds $5M bounty

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published September 26, 2006

GAINESVILLE - When Danny Ponce and a small group of committee members sat down two years ago to plan a premier event for Florida's 100-year celebration of football, they wanted to do something highly ambitious.

What they came up with was a fundraiser that, at the time, seemed a little out there: raise at least $5-million in one evening to pay for athletic scholarships. Two years later, they have surpassed that goal.

More than 1,100 people will gather Friday night at the O'Connell Center for the Gator Gala fundraiser. They will sit among more than 100 tables - at $50,000 each. All proceeds will go to the athletic endowment fund.

"It is our belief that no school has ever raised this much money from multiple donors in one evening - money raised purely for scholarships," said Ponce, a University Athletic Association board member and vice president of the Orange Bowl Committee. "We believe this is a phenomenal accomplishment."

And it is part of a growing trend in college athletics: endowing funds to pay for college athletic scholarships. Based on the 2006-07 operating budget, the move will save the UAA $7.2-million annually.

"The most difficult money to raise in athletics is scholarship dollars," Ponce said. "People want to name a building, they want to name a stadium, they want to name a field. Heck, somebody will give you money to name the 25-second clock if you let them do it. But the reality is scholarship money is a critical, critical piece."

The vintage black tie affair will feature former coaches, athletic directors and players who will be among those honored during the event. Ponce has promised there will be some "special things" during the event, some he wouldn't divulge - including whether former coach Steve Spurrier will attend. South Carolina plays Auburn on Thursday night, freeing Spurrier for the weekend.

Ponce said that to his knowledge, Stanford is the only school to have endowed all its athletic scholarships. As part of Florida's campuswide seven-year capital fundraising campaign, which kicked off last year, the Gator Boosters hope to eventually have every athletic scholarship tuition endowed for all sports. To do that would cost about $65-million, and Florida has already raised about $35-million.

BOOS FOR WHOM? The debate continues over the booing by Florida fans late in the fourth quarter of Saturday night's win over Kentucky when freshman reserve quarterback Tim Tebow was replaced by senior starter Chris Leak in the middle of what might have been his first touchdown drive. Were the fans booing Leak, booing the play or booing Urban Meyer for his decision to remove Tebow?

It all depends on whom you ask.

Leak said he's oblivious to crowd noise and didn't hear it. Ditto for offensive lineman Phil Trautwein. Defensive end Jarvis Moss heard it and assumed the fans were booing Leak, which he said didn't bother him because the players have confidence in Leak.

Leak was 15-of-26 for 267 yards in the game, and afterward Meyer said he was "disappointed" in the crowd for booing Leak. But Monday, he changed his thoughts.

"I think they were booing me," Meyer said. "My wife is as smart as anybody, and she said, 'Don't worry about them booing Chris. They were booing you.' I said, 'Well, they should. We didn't score a touchdown.' But Chris is better than that. We're better than that."

YOU WANT IT NOW? Count senior receiver Jemalle Cornelius among those Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium who were stunned when Meyer called a trick play less than three minutes into the game. With first and 10 at the Wildcats' 33, the Gators produced a double flea-flicker: from receiver Andre Caldwell to receiver Dallas Baker, who tossed back to Leak for a touchdown pass to Cornelius.

Want to know why Cornelius was stunned? He had never seen the play successfully run.

"In practice it never worked," Cornelius said. "It didn't work in practice. Our defense, we couldn't get in on. That's why I was surprised that coach called it. We ran it like three or four times, and it didn't work at practice at all. The defense, the safeties, they don't really bite on it, they just stay deep."

Antonya English covers Florida athletics. She can be reached at 813 226-3389 or english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 26, 2006, 01:44:25]