By Harry Minium
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Old Dominion Athletic Director Wood Selig said he expects more than 5,000 ODU fans to attend Monday's Myrtle Beach Bowl football game between the Monarchs and Tulsa, and added that he hopes that 1,000 students are among those who will be there.
ODU has sold more than 3,700 tickets, including hundreds of tickets bought by fans for students to attend. The Old Dominion Athletic Foundation also began a Crowd Funding effort that has raised nearly $30,000 and was headed to $40,000 Friday afternoon to help pay for student tickets and travel expenses.
ODU donor Kevin Riggins kicked off that effort with a $1,000 donation. He was since joined by Keith and Kim Curtis, who gave $3,500; former, ODU All-American women's basketball player Nancy Lieberman, who donated $2,500; Stephen Hall donated $1,250; and Sandy Batkin $1,260. Ray Wittersheim and Darren Morton contributed $1,000 apiece while Michael Cummings, Craig Probus, Leslie Beckwith and Scott Bracken $500 apiece.
Football coach Ricky Rahne also donated $375, enough to pay for tickets and for transportation for three students.
"That's exactly what we hoped would happen," Dr. Selig said. "We're very pleased that so many people wanted to jump on board and get behind creating memories of a lifetime for so many ODU students."
ODU will provide buses for hundreds of students but is donating tickets to other students who will make their own way to Myrtle Beach.
Casey Cegles said he had success with Crowd Funding efforts at Kent State, where he worked before coming to ODU.
"Wood came to us and said we really need to do more to try to get the students there," Cegles said. "I thought, why not give Crowd Funding a shot? It really picked up a lot faster than I thought it would."
Rahne said what ODAF has done "is an awesome deal. The bigger the crowd the better.
"We'd love to get those students here. I think it shows the type of family atmosphere we have in Monarch Nation that they're helping to pay for students to come here.
"When they have a purpose to donate to, our fans do an unbelievable job. I'm really proud of what they've done."
The effort has been aided on Twitter by a fan group called The Monarchists.
"The great response we've gotten is a testament to the power of social media," Cegles said.
Selig said that no one will truly know how many fans from ODU purchased because many bought directly from the bowl game or from online ticket outlets such as StubHub.
"I think we'll end up with a true number north of 5,000," he said, noting that an ODU Alumni Association tailgate scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday sold out days ago. Sales had to be shut down after more than 800 people signed up.
"I think we're going to be pleasantly surprised with that the total number will be," Selig said.
"It's Friday afternoon. We've got a bunch of students who are going to find their own way down there. It's Friday afternoon. We have a full weekend left and the students are just finishing exams.
"And students are notorious for making last minute decisions."
To donate to the effort, CLICK HERE