Diamond Champions Council Society
Throughout the years, the 12th Man Foundation has hosted many donor recognition events where Texas A&M coaches and athletic department administrators have been the special guests.
In that regard, the event on Oct. 14, 2010 at Christopher’s World Grille was like many others, as Director of athletics Bill Byrne, head football coach Mike Sherman, men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon, women’s basketball coach Gary Blair, men’s and women’s track and field coach Pat Henry and baseball coach Rob Childress were all in attendance.
What made this particular event—the Diamond Champions Council—so meaningful to the coaches and administrators, however, was that it was the donors, not the A&M officials, who were the featured speakers.
The Diamond Champions Council is a select group of donors who have made a gift of at least $1 million or more to the 12th Man Foundation in a capital campaign donation or endowment contribution. The inaugural event, which kicked off on Oct. 14 and continued to the next day, honored all those living and deceased donors who have made seven-figure gifts. As a special treat, numerous donors shared their personal stories with the coaches, administrators and 12th Man Foundation staff members on the Thursday dinner.
“The event was very special to us, as coaches,” said Blair. “Instead of us talking to the donors, we got to hear from them. We got to hear what it was like for them to go to A&M back in their collegiate days, and we got to hear how they became involved with the 12th Man Foundation and Texas A&M athletics. It was especially refreshing for me to hear from a guy like (12th Man Foundation donor and Olsen Field renovation co-chair) Steve Morris, who didn’t even go to A&M. He went to play baseball with me out at Texas Tech, although he had a much better baseball career than me at Tech.
“But like me, he has grown to love and admire what Texas A&M is all about. To hear his story, as well as the rest of the stories of these fabulously successful people, was very inspiring to me. And to hear their reasons for giving was very enlightening. The reasons they are giving have little to do with putting their names on the building, but rather, they want to make it better for the students and the student-athletes. I will be able to use their stories in my recruiting efforts moving forward.”
Following the dinner on Thursday night, the donors were treated to an intimate Texas A&M basketball experience on Friday afternoon. First, lunch was served in the lobby of the Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie basketball. Then the donors were treated to a women’s basketball practice with Blair, followed by a film session with Turgeon.
Turgeon and his staff were delighted to host the prestigious group of donors on Friday. But, like Blair, Turgeon says he was especially moved by the genuine emotions and stories the donors shared on Thursday night.
“(The Thursday night event) was a lot of fun for me,” Turgeon said. “With this being my fourth year at A&M, it was great to be able to know so many of them personally. I met a couple I didn’t know, as well. To get them to stand up and to learn a little bit of their life stories was very interesting and touching. I loved hearing about what A&M did for them and how they feel compelled to give back to A&M for literally planting the seeds of success. You could tell that each couple had a love for athletics and the student-athletes.
“It was a fun night. What a great idea by the 12th Man Foundation, and what an honor it was to be able to pay tribute to that group, which has played such a huge role in making Texas A&M’s athletic facilities what they are today with the major gifts that those extremely generous people have given.”
Since the initial Championship Vision capital campaign was first unveiled in March of 2000, the 12th Man Foundation’s Major Gifts Group has received more than $135 million in donations to fund the construction or renovation of numerous high-profile athletic facilities across the A&M campus, including the Bright Football Complex, the Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball, the Nye Academic Center, the McFerrin Athletic Center, the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, the Paul Wahlberg ’50 Aggie Golf Learning Center and the west campus facilities for soccer, softball, track and field and cross country.
In most cases, the lead gifts for those facilities and many others involved seven-figure gifts. The original Champions Council was organized in 2004, as groups of potential donors were established across the state and even around the country in an effort to educated former students and friends of A&M about the facility needs in Aggieland. Each member of the Champions Council has donated at least $50,000 to the 12th Man Foundation.
“The Champions Council has been very successful in identifying donors, educating them about our facility needs and introducing them to coaches and administrators,” said Travis Dabney, the 12th Man Foundation’s Vice President of Major Gifts. “The Diamond Champions Council is a group of donors who have been our lead donors in most cases. These are some of our most important donors. What we held on Oct. 14-15 was a stewardship event to let them know how important, how significant and how meaningful they are to the 12th Man Foundation and Texas A&M athletics. Without them, our facilities would be nowhere near what they are today.”
Because of the leadership and generosity of these donors, however, A&M has been able to reshape the athletic facilities landscape in the past decade. And those donors are extremely pleased to see what their donations have done in Aggieland.
“I love the changes that have been made in recent years,” said Alan Roberts, Class of ’78, who, along with his wife, Robyn, made a seven-figure gift to Phase II of the Championship Vision capital campaign that was directed specifically toward the Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball. “The upgrades bring us up to the next level that we need in order to compete. We have to help our student-athletes and coaches compete with providing the best facilities.
“And I love the camaraderie of the (Diamond Champions Council members), who have stepped forward to do what we can. I sense a great deal of momentum. We all look for worthwhile projects to give to and to share our blessings. You evaluate your prospective donations in terms of whether they are really going to help something you are passionate about and something that gives you great satisfaction. Giving back to A&M athletics, to us, is very rewarding, and it gives us a tremendous source of pride to see the facilities we now have.”
Weldon and Judy Jaynes expressed similar feelings at the events on Oct. 14-15. In 2004, Weldon served as chairman of what is now the 12th Man Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The highly successful, Fort Worth-based businessman graduated from Texas A&M in 1954. He first arrived in Aggieland with big dreams and relatively empty pockets, but A&M helped him build a foundation for success. He was able to share his story on Oct. 14, and his wife said the couple was touched by all the rags-to-riches stories from that evening.
“I thought (the Thursday night event) was very touching,” Judy Jaynes said. “Everything was very honest and from the heart. I was very impressed with the willingness of the people to do what they could to help A&M. Most of the people in that room started out like Weldon in that they were absolutely dirt poor. Many of them came to A&M, like Weldon, because A&M was one of the few schools he could afford. He was here for two years and then the Army essentially paid for him to finish at A&M. That’s the only way he could have gotten an education, and so many people were in the same situation. None of those poor boys have forgotten what A&M did for them, and as they have grown their companies and business interests, they have given back to A&M.
“I think Texas A&M is becoming pretty much world-class in its athletic facilities, and we didn’t start off that way. So much of that has to do with Bill Byrne and to the many people stepping up financially. For a long time, I don’t think people realized what a need we had. But this (Champions Council) and other 12th Man Foundation efforts have educated and informed the donors. I think we are getting where we need to be.”