Colorado State University Athletics
Pre-kickoff notes: CSU to partner with Ramstrength
9/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Buy tickets | Rams Express route
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – When Colorado State hosts the nation’s No. 5-ranked team, TCU, on Saturday (12 p.m. MDT), fans may notice banners and T-shirts branded with Ramstrength.
CSU is partnering with the organization to help raise cancer awareness in Northern Colorado, specifically on the Fort Collins campus.
Formerly RamStrong, Ramstrength was born when cancer struck three people close to the Rams athletics program: Former assistant coach Marc Lubick, the late Karen Hammerschmidt and Tim Rickets. Hammerschmidt’s husband, Dan, formerly played football at Colorado State and currently serves as an assistant coach on Steve Fairchild’s staff, while Ricketts, a cancer survivor, is a long-time program supporter.
Founded in 2007 by Michelle Boyle, Lubick’s sister and the daughter of former CSU coach Sonny Lubick, Ramstrength is in its fourth year. Boyle also serves as the executive director of the Lubick Foundation. Her organization has raised more than $300,000 to provide local cancer survivors direct financial assistance for basic needs, scholarship opportunities, programs and services.
Colorado State is eager to bolster its relationship with Ramstrength. The partnership with CSU will include various opportunities to increase awareness to further enhance Ramstrength’s goals, as well as the establishment of a scholarship that will benefit a current student who has dealt with cancer.
“We are extremely excited about partnering with Ramstrength and helping the organization achieve its very important mission of assisting those stricken with cancer,” said Athletic Director Paul Kowalczyk.
Along with this partnership, CSU’s athletic department proudly supports more than 100 non-profit organizations annually.
For more information on Ramstrength, visit www.Ramstrength.org
Free tickets and transportation for students
Friday is the last day to pick up free student tickets to Saturday’s game, available during normal business hours at the McGraw Athletic Center and Lory Student Center box offices. Plenty of tickets are available.
Students also can take advantage of a free ride to and from Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, from several locations in Fort Collins to the stadium, and back again after the game. The Rams Express, which runs continuously beginning two hours before kickoff and makes stops approximately every 20 minutes, begins at the Marriott Fort Collins, proceeds to the Lory Student Center transportation center and the McGraw Athletic Center parking lot, then to Rams Village on Elizabeth Street before dropping off at the stadium. Then after the game, for an hour after the final gun, a shuttle will leave every 20 minutes from the south side of the stadium and drop off at the same locations.
Public tickets
General public tickets also are available to the game, which features one of the two highest-ranked opponents ever to play at Hughes Stadium (CU also was No. 5 in 1996). There are four ways to purchase tickets, in person at the McGraw Center ticket office during normal business hours through Friday at 5 p.m., over the phone at 1-800/491-RAMS, online at CSURams.com, or at the stadium on gameday. Stadium ticket offices, located on the southeast and east side of the facility, open at 9 a.m.
Coaches wives, Fairchilds ask for help in fighting hunger
Fans that purchase tickets to Saturday’s game should know that just by being present, they’re helping to fight hunger, thanks to Steve and Nancy Fairchild. For every fan at the stadium this week, the Rams’ head coach and his wife have pledged to make a personal 10-cent donation to CSU’s Cans Around the Oval campaign (http://www.slice.colostate.edu/cans-around-the-oval.aspx), which annually benefits Food Bank of Larimer County.
This year’s Cans Around the Oval event, at which the university challenges the community to surround the Oval, a campus landmark, with canned donations for the needy, is Oct. 20.
But fans don’t have to wait to make their donation. They can follow the Fairchilds’ lead on Saturday and bring either non-perishable canned food items, or make a cash donation. Representatives from Cans Around the Oval will be available at each gate Saturday to accept donations. Checks can be made payable to Food Bank of Larimer County. Coaches’ wives also will be in Ram Town Saturday to accept canned food items and donations for the cause.
Those that bring a minimum of three cans will receive a voucher good for a buy-one, get-one free offer at CSU’s volleyball match against TCU Oct. 14, when the athletic department is expected to unveil its new scoreboard at Moby Arena. Football coaches’ wives also will be on hand that night, at the volleyball match, to accept canned-food and cash donations for Cans Around the Oval.
Moment of silence
The athletic department will remember the late Anthony Cesario on Saturday with a moment of silence before kickoff. Cesario, 34, passed away tragically Saturday night. He was an All-American as a senior at CSU in 1998 before the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft.
Every member of the current CSU football team is signing a customized card for Cesario’s family. The card will be delivered by director of operations Tom Ehlers and Larry Kerr, CSU’s longtime defensive coordinator who recruited Cesario to CSU, who will represent the CSU football program at Friday’s funeral in Pueblo, Colo. Senior associate athletic director Gary Ozzello also will attend.
Gates
Parking lots open three hours before every kickoff, 9 a.m. on Saturday. Stadium gates open at 10:30 a.m., 90 minutes before the contest.
Ram Walk
Two hours before every kickoff, including Saturday at 10 a.m., the players and coaches exit their buses and walk through Ram Town as the CSU band plays the fight song. Fans are invited to join the cheerleaders, band, CAM the Ram and others in the tradition, on the southeast side of the stadium, welcoming the team.
Band in Old Town
Fans in town the night before any home game are invited to begin their weekend in Old Town Fort Collins, where the CSU marching band performs on those Fridays beginning at 6 p.m.
