![\"raffle\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/raffle.jpg\")
<\/a>\nTo some people, it\u2019s known as \u201cThe Reverse Raffle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others know it as \u201cThe Auction.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter what you call it, everyone always agrees \u2013 the Eagle Football Alumni Association (EFAA) puts on quite a party.<\/p>\n
The 2012 EFAA Reverse Raffle and Auction saw a record crowd and record donations as former players, coaches and fans bid on Georgia Southern football memorabilia while enjoying dinner, drinks and music at Paulson Stadium\u2019s Bishop Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something you\u2019re going to tell your friends about,\u201d said Gordon Hunter, Georgia Southern\u2019s Eagle Fund special projects coordinator. \u201cThe entire week after the event, people talk about it. I think that\u2019s where a lot of our growth has come from over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2011, 476 people attended the event, setting a record. This year, 622 came out for the party.
\nMany were former players, who got to re-live the greatest moments in Georgia Southern lore as some historic games played on the television screens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played some of the previous national championship games on the TVs in there, and it was fun watching some of the older guys,\u201d said Hunter. \u201cTowards the end of the night, they were oohing and aahing like the game was live. I said, \u2018Guys, you know what\u2019s going to happen,\u2019 but they watched like the game was being played that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans left the auction with some incredible items. Some of the pieces of memorabilia auctioned off were a framed, matted, signed print of Eagles head coach Jeff Monken and Alabama head coach Nick Saban before the 2011 game between the teams, autographed prints of Eagle standouts Laron Scott and Jaybo Shaw and a 2011 Southern Conference Championship ring.<\/p>\n
The evening\u2019s musical guest \u2013 The Silver Eagle Band out of Tampa, Fla. \u2013 even fetched a large bid after putting itself on the auction block.<\/p>\n
And to think, the band almost didn\u2019t come until realizing that it was the same event at which it played a year prior.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were already booked that day, but I talked to the manager and he said, \u2018You know what? I can move some things around.\u2019 They have no ties to Georgia Southern other than the Eagle in their name, but they just wanted to come back,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, the manager approached me while we were doing the live auction and said, \u2018Raffle us off for a night in Statesboro.\u2019 We expected the ring to fetch a high price \u2013 the team had just gotten theirs that day and it was fresh on everyone\u2019s mind \u2013 but the band was a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest prize of the evening \u2013 the $10,000 grand prize from the reverse raffle \u2013 was donated straight back to the EFAA.<\/p>\n
All proceeds from the event went to the organization, which is made up entirely of former players, coaches, managers and trainers, and raises money for things like the Erk Russell Scholarship Endowment, the Eagle Fund, the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation and the football program\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2006, the EFAA holds two annual events, the Reverse Raffle and Auction, and the Legends of Georgia Southern Football Golf Tournament, which was held this year in Macon on May 18.<\/p>\n
The golf event raised roughly $15,000 for the EFAA, and each participant had the opportunity to play the 15th hole with head football coach Jeff Monken.<\/p>\n
The entire coaching staff played the tournament, as well as former players like Steve Bussoletti, Bo Galvin, Terry Harvin, Hal Radford, J.R. Richardson, Chaz Williams and Melvin Cox.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the day when a lot of these guys were playing, there wasn\u2019t any money, and they really had to scrimp and scrape,\u201d said John Mulherin, president of the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation. \u201cAs an athletic department, we\u2019re still scrimping and scraping, but the money the EFAA raises and gives back to make the program better makes a huge difference in the lives of the student-athletes, the coaches, their families and the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EFAA attracts past players like Tracy Ham, Darryl Hopkins and Harvin, but also includes players like Raja Andrews, Dusty Reddick and Matt Wise, who have graduated within the last five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey always say that continuity wins championships. Well continuity leads to success, too. In 10 years, it\u2019s going to be Raja Andrews, Matt Wise and Dusty Reddick leading the organization,\u201d Mulherin said. \u201cIf you can keep that continuity, keep the younger guys involved and keep it fun, it makes it that much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eagle Football Alumni Association Hosts Annual Fundraiser<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-3824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-summer-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}