Fund-raiser for Longwood student-athletes comes on the heels of Lancers joining the Big South Conference on July 1
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Chad Knowles had just joined the Lancer Club Advisory Board about a year ago when he proposed an idea to Scott Bacon, the Assistant Athletic Director for Development for the Lancers and the Executive Director of the Advisory Board.
Knowles, a former Longwood wrestler, had been involved in a fund-raiser for the Crater Community Hospice in Chester in the Tri-City area near Richmond and felt such an event would be a coup for Longwood athletics as well.
As it turns out Bacon, along with Director of Athletics Troy Austin, had been thinking of a similar Longwood event for a long time. Their dreams will mesh and become a reality in October with the first-ever Longwood Athletics Benefit Celebration (LABC), presented by The Lancer Club.
The event is Friday, Oct. 19 from 7 to 11 p.m. at The Omni Richmond Hotel in order to generate support for student-athletes at Longwood.
“We want to use athletics to spread the Lancer and Longwood brand,” says Bacon, the point person for the October event. “This is the most exciting time in the history of the Lancers, with us joining the Big South. We want to utilize athletics to gain notoriety and tell the story of Longwood University. It is a whole new ballgame (in the Big South). We want to make it a top-notch event across the board.”
The event will feature a live and silent auction, music, dancing, heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. Auction items will include 2013 ESPY Awards tickets, a 7-night Caribbean cruise, a round of golf and tour at The Atlanta Athletic Club and a Napa Valley Wine Country experience.
“We were at a critical point after Division I,” says Knowles, a 1994 Longwood graduate. “We needed to make a change for the program and being part of the Big South is a big fit. It will be a huge benefit for the athletic department and the school. I am excited.”
The LABC comes on the heels of Longwood officially joining the Big South Conference on July 1 and will take place in the Virginia capital region, which is home to the largest number of Longwood alumni.
“Some of us have been here a long time,” says women’s head soccer coach Todd Dyer, a 1993 graduate and former men’s soccer player ready to begin his 19th season as coach. “We have seen the evolution of Longwood athletics. It has continued to get bigger and stronger. Last summer we added the missing part of the puzzle (by joining the Big South). I think more than anything we are stepping up to the next level. Being able to do this event in the state capital is a terrific location.”
“We have been talking about the event for two or three years now,” says Austin, who became the Longwood athletic director in 2008. “The Lancer Club Advisory Board … had a desire to create a signature event for the athletic department that would create financial support. We want people to feel they are at a first-class event. I am highly confident Scott and the advisory board will do a good job.”
So what are Bacon’s goals for the event? “First and foremost we are trying to raise funds for the Longwood student-athlete. We also see it as a great opportunity to engage with our alumnis,” he says.
“We thought Richmond would be an excellent place to have the event,” adds Bacon, the radio voice of the Lancers. “We wanted to reach out to our alumnis and give them an event to rally around.”
Longwood athletics hopes to build on the Big South membership. “Timing is everything,” Austin says.
And so is location, as real estate salespeople and baseball pitchers know. “Thirty percent of our alumni population is in the Richmond area,” says Austin, who hopes to attract at least 200 people. “The Omni is right off I-95. And 75 percent of our alumni are in Virginia. Richmond is a great central point for our alumni base.”
Austin and Bacon hope to capitalize on the buzz of joining the Big South while educating the Longwood community on the new conference.
So what has it been like for Austin since Longwood joined the Big South? “It has been great. There has been a lot of excitement, a lot of pats on the back, a genuine appreciation from the community. It has been gratifying,” he says.
So with that momentum one of the most important events on the Longwood athletic calendar this fall won’t take place on the soccer field or the golf course.
Knowles, recently named the assistant principal at Meadowbrook High in Chesterfield County, hopes the LABC can exceed the Crater Community Hospice fund raiser he has been involved with. And one thing in common will be that Wayne Covil, from WTVR Channel 6 in Richmond, will be the auctioneer for the Longwood auction after serving in the same role for Crater.
For ticket or sponsorship information please contact Scott Bacon at 434-395-2081 or email lancerclub@longwood.edu
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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