Western State College in Gunnison has raised enough money from private donations to continue its storied, but financially struggling, ski team.
Alumni and donors have made annual pledges of $135,000 over the next five years totaling $675,000 to save the team, which was a founding member and moving force behind the adoption of skiing as an NCAA sport 50 years ago. That will fund the program through 2010 and give it time to raise a $3 million endowment to fund it at a competitive level in perpetuity.
“Everyone involved in the effort agrees that the proud tradition of skiing is worth saving and securing for the future,” Western State president Jay Helman said.
Western State, with 2,270 students, is the smallest public school in the nation to compete in NCAA skiing – often against major universities with three times Western’s budget, Helman said.
“Still, Western has produced a staggering list of individual national champions, U.S. team members and coaches and Olympians,” athletic director Greg Waggoner said.
The program has historically been funded with a combination of state appropriations and student fees, but this decade’s state higher education funding crisis forced severe cuts.
The fundraising success of the ski program has inspired the college to pursue private funding for several other intercollegiate sports, Helman said.
