1. Volume 3, Number 1 • Lafayette college maroon club • 2015-16
4 | Lafayette college maroon club newsletter • 2015-16
Dear Friends,
T
hank you for making 2014-15 an outstanding year for Lafayette athletics. We raised more than $1.76 million—
increasing our year-over-year dollars by more than $500,000, and the number of donors surpassed the 2,000
mark for the first time in the Maroon Club’s 78-year history.
We also celebrated many exciting on-field achievements. Thirty-three student-athletes were All-Patriot League
selections and 14 were named Academic All-League. The men’s basketball team won the Patriot League title, and
track and field celebrated three individual championships. Cory Spera ’15 was selected as the George Wharton
Pepper Prize winner, becoming the third student-athlete in a row to capture Lafayette’s highest honor, following
soccer’s Zach Winthrop ’13 and football’s Brad Bormann ’14.
We would not have been able to accomplish this without the generous support of alumni,
parents, and friends. I also want to acknowledge the many dedicated volunteers who served
on committees, the alumni and parent panelists in the Career Development Series, and the
College’s Athletics and Development staffs for making it the most successful fundraising year
in the history of the Maroon Club.
There are many ways your gift directly impacts the success of our programs. Gifts to the
General Fund support the Oaks Leadership Academy, strength and conditioning programs,
athletic training resources, the bi-annual Career Development Series, and other department-
wide programs.
Gifts made in support of a specific team help by:
• enhancing recruiting budgets
• providing additional funding for assistant coaches’ salaries
• supplementing budgets for apparel, uniforms, equipment, and travel expenses
Every sport has its own Maroon Club goals. I encourage you to connect with me or a coach to learn how you can
volunteer your time and support the program with a gift this year. If we want to be successful as a department, we
need your support at every level. The drive for $1.8 million is on! I look forward to seeing you both on and off campus.
Please do not hesitate to reach out and say hello, especially if I can be of help to you.
With Leopard Pride,
Joseph T. Giaimo
Executive Director
Strength and Conditioning at Lafayette
An interview with Brad Potts, Assistant Director of Athletics for Peak Performance
Please tell us about your role.
What does a typical day look like?
A typical day for our staff begins at 5:30
a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. depending on
game schedules. During the week, we
have athletes training in small groups
throughout the day. Full-team workouts
take place from 6 to 7:30 a.m. and from
4:30 to 7 p.m.
Would you share your thoughts about training
methodology and adapting to new methods?
Our general philosophy on the physical preparation of our
athletes is to implement simple but effective plans based on the
physiological, psychological, and performance characteristics
of each sport. Simple does not mean easy, but if the routines
are not repeatable, they will not be sustainable. We make
accommodations for individual student-athletes with different
body types, deficiencies, or injuries. We try to utilize any and
all tools we identify to be relevant to the development of our
student-athletes while working within the limitations of a
relatively small staff.
How have athletic scholarships impacted strength
and conditioning programs?
Scholarships have opened up our coaches’ ability to recruit to
a much larger demographic. Scholarships are simply a must to
compete at the Division I level. Players win games, not coaches.
It starts and ends with bringing in the best talent.
What are your goals for the strength and
conditioning program?
I would like to see us lower our coach-to-athlete ratio. Our
infrastructure is not unlike other businesses. If the staff is
limited, quality control will suffer. We work very hard, but we
can’t be everywhere at once. Increasing the number of staff so
we are in alignment with other schools in the Patriot League
is a priority. We are also constantly rethinking how we can
better educate our athletes on the importance of well-being
and enhancing mental toughness. Our players are true student-
athletes and it’s hard to burn the candle at both ends, so mental
toughness and well-being must be a point of emphasis.
How is the Maroon Club General Fund helping your
annual budget? What are your short-term funding needs?
Long-term needs?
The Maroon Club has been extremely generous and supportive.
Staffing is our main funding need. It directly impacts the quality
of care we can provide the student-athletes. I see endowing
positions as a long-lasting solution to many needs in the athletic
department, including strength and conditioning. A long-term
goal would be to endow my position and use the current funding
provided by the College to hire additional staff.
Please tell us about the new well-being
programming you’ve implemented.
Our monthly Peak Performance Seminars give Steve Plunkett,
Assistant Director of Sports Performance, and me a platform
for reinforcing health and wellness concepts. These lessons
help student-athletes in their current environment and create a
foundation for a healthy lifestyle beyond their years at Lafayette.
We have had tremendous turnout for these events, and that is a
testament to the commitment of our student-athletes.
Would you discuss the impact of the renovations to
the Maroon Club Strength Center?
Our student-athletes were blown away. It’s something we can
all take pride in – alumni, student-athletes, and coaches. It might
be the finest facility in the Patriot League. With his attention
to detail and tireless work ethic, Steve was instrumental in the
renovation process, collaborating with our capital campaign
project managers and George Bright, former Assistant Director
of Athletics. It was one of those rare instances where you’re
picturing something great in your mind and the end product
turns out even better!
GetInTheGame!
This year’s Challenge begins Monday, Nov. 16,
and runs through halftime of the game on
Saturday, Nov 21.
We lead the series, 3-2!
Let’s keep the streak going!
Three ways to help Lafayette win:
• Make a credit card gift online at
development.lafayette.edu/give.
• Mail a check to Lafayette College,
Box 3000, Easton, PA 18042.
Make a $10 gift by texting PARD
(plus your name and class year) to 20222.
We can’t beat Lehigh
WITHOUT YOU!
Mark your calendar for the 6th annual
Lafayette-Lehigh Giving Challenge
November 16-21, 2015

2. 2 | Lafayette college maroon club newsletter • 2015-16
Athletics and the Live Connected, Lead Change Campaign
S
upport for Lafayette’s Division 1 athletic program is a key
objective of Lafayette’s $400 million Live Connected, Lead
Change campaign. The campaign has a goal of $20 million
to update and expand facilities, endow coaching positions,
fund scholarships for student-athletes, and—through annual
giving—increase teams’ budgets for travel, student services,
and other operational needs.
Lafayette’s long, rich tradition in athletics includes many
recent successes. Men’s basketball, which defeated American
in March to win its third Patriot League championship, has
appeared in the conference title game in four of the last six
seasons. Football, seven-time Patriot League champion, won
the title in 2013 and captured the attention of the nation last
fall with its win over Lehigh at Yankee Stadium in the 150th
meeting in college football’s most-played rivalry. Field hockey,
winner of nine Patriot titles, including in 2011 and 2012, has
appeared in six of the last eight conference championship
games. With seven league titles, Lafayette boasts the most
successful men’s soccer program in the Patriot League. And
there’s more.
The College’s athletic programs had the fourth-highest total
in the nation – 97 percent – in the most recent announcement
of the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate, with 68 percent of
our student-athletes achieving a GPA of 3.0 or above.
To date, the Maroon Club has raised $12.5 million toward
the campaign goal. Support of donors is essential to the success
of our student-athletes and the College’s competitiveness.
For more information on support for athletics and the
Live Connected, Lead Change campaign, visit liveconnected.
lafayette.edu.
From the Maroon Club President
Dear Friends,
As we look back on a truly historic year with many causes
for celebration, the Maroon Club continues its work with
the Development Office to supplement our sports’ operating
budgets, establish endowments for head coaching positions,
and raise funds for merit-based athletic scholarships. We remain
steadfast in our commitment to provide student-athletes and
coaches with leadership programs and educational opportunities
and to raise important annual dollars for initiatives that meet
the specific needs of our 23 Division 1 programs.
Thank you for your support of the Maroon Club and your investment in our student-
athletes. Your gifts make the difference! We hope to see you on the sidelines in your
Maroon and White cheering on our exceptional student-athletes as they compete for
championship titles.
Go Leopards!
Cynthia Oaks Linville ’80 P’13 ’18
Maroon Club Day
The Maroon Club welcomed more than 300 alumni, parents,
and friends from all sports back to College Hill to celebrate
Lafayette athletics on Homecoming Weekend.
In addition to alumni contests and open practices, the fifth
annual Maroon Club Day featured an open training session
led by Brad Potts, Assistant Director of Athletics for Peak
Performance, and Steve Plunkett, Assistant Director of
Sports Performance, in the newly renovated Maroon Club
Strength Center.
The highlight of the day, the Maroon Club All-Sports
Tailgate, featured food, bar, and live music by the band
Gravity Hill.
Mark your calendar for the sixth annual Maroon Club
day, Saturday, October 1, 2016.
CAMPAIGN PROGRESS
Gifts, pledges, and bequests totaled $12.5 million as of August 31.
• Endowment gifts provide a permanent source of support
• Annual scholarships provide merit-based financial aid
for student-athletes
• Facilities enhancements improve the student-athlete and fan
experience with state-of-the art venues for practice and competition
• Additionally, Maroon Club gifts support the annual operational
needs of all 23 Division 1 sports. Last year, the Maroon Club raised
over $1.76 in annual gifts.
$20 MILLIONGoal
Progress to date $12.5 million
liveconnected.lafayette.edu
Société D’Honneur Celebrates Athletics
The spotlight shone on athletics at a ceremony honoring the
newest members of Lafayette’s Société d’Honneur.
In March, the College welcomed Philip D. ’60 and Bernice
Bollman, Judson C. ’79 and Cynthia Oaks Linville ’80, and
H. Lee Messner ’49 into the Société, which was formed in
1986 to recognize exceptional lifetime generosity on the part
of alumni, parents, and friends.
Athletics has been a focus of generous giving to the
College for the Bollmans and the Linvilles. Phil and Bernice
Bollman support financial aid, athletics, and engineering as
an expression of their gratitude for the financial assistance
that Phil received as a student. The Bollman Team Room for
baseball at Kamine Varsity House is named in their honor.
More recently, they established the Philip D. Bollman Jr. ’60
and Bernice Bollman Scholarship to provide financial aid to
students who are both student-athletes and engineering majors
and who demonstrate significant need.
Jud and Cindy Linville share a lifelong passion for the
College, an equally strong commitment to its students and
student-athletes, and an exceptional legacy of leadership
as volunteers and donors. These interests are reflected in
their 2011 pledge to honor Cindy’s father by creating the Dr.
Wilbur W. Oaks ’51 Leadership Development Fund, which
supports the Oaks Leadership Academy. A more recent gift is
significantly enhancing the the lacrosse program.
The ceremony featured remarks by student-athletes
about the impact of the new members’ generosity on their
experiences at the College. A mechanical engineering major
and standout in cross country and track, Amelia Ayers ’16 is
one of the first beneficiaries of the Bollmans’ scholarship fund.
Cory Spera ’15, a biology major and all-league baseball pitcher,
was a participant in the Oaks Leadership Academy. He went
on to be named Maroon Club Scholar-Athlete of the Year and
winner of the Pepper Prize. This was the third straight year
that a graduating student-athlete was recognized as the senior
who “most nearly represents the Lafayette ideal.”
The induction of the Bollmans, the Linvilles, and Lee
Messner increased the Société’s membership to 119, including
22 members who have been welcomed during the Live
Connected, Lead Change campaign.
Spring Golf Outing
The 2016 Maroon Club Spring Golf Outing will be held
Monday, May 9, at Silver Creek Country Club, Hellertown, Pa.
The 2015 tournament was wonderfully successful, with a
sold-out course and these great sponsors: Turner Construction,
KDC Solar, CHA Consultants, Citi, Stark Financial, the
Grentz Family, Audax Group, Campus Pizza, College Hill
Tavern, Hammer Strength/PLAE Sports Flooring, Mark
Holtzman ’80, McAdam Financial, the McKittrick Family,
the “Old” Friends of Men’s Lacrosse, Salvatore’s Pizzeria
Restaurant, Schutt, Sicily II, Sports Paradise, Vistronix, and
Mike Whitman ’82 P’11 P’14.