Spring Hill College and The University of South Alabama raised over $1,800 towards hurricane relief funds for those impacted by Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate on Oct. 24 in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.

According to Athletic Director, Jim Hall, the NCAA announced that it would grant one time exemptions for schools wanting to play an extra exhibition game this season if the net proceeds were going to be donated to hurricane relief efforts. “South Alabama called us and asked if we wanted to play them in such a game and if we’d be interested in hosting the event. We hosted because our overhead costs are minimal compared to theirs at the Mitchell Center, and we could thus generate the maximum amount of event revenue for charity,” said Hall.

Aaron Niven, Head Coach for the Spring Hill College Basketball team, said that this event was a great opportunity for his team, “We were able to kill two birds with one stone if you will. My wife and I have good friends that are still not able to be in their home in Houston, so this is a cause that is very important to me. For our basketball team, it was a good gauge of the things that we need to continue working on. I told our team that this allowed us to have two dress rehearsals to prepare for our first game, which we need! It was a win-win for everyone involved.” Coach Niven also expressed his gratitude towards the students and fans that attended the game to support this worthy cause.

Although the Badgers suffered a 77-55 lost to the Jags, the exhibition game raised a little over $1,800 that will be donated to Catholic Relief Services. Head Coach for The University of South Alabama Basketball team, Matthew Graves, mentioned that it is always nice to play someone other than yourself when preparing for the upcoming season. “I thought it was a good game considering both teams just started practicing in early to mid October and anytime you can give back to the local community is always a good thing because those are ultimately the people that are going to turn around and support you as well,” said Coach Graves.

With RMS.com reporting that Hurricane Harvey alone would have an economic loss of around $70-90 billion from wind, storm surge, and inland flood, the money acquired at this event is very important for those impacted. Other colleges and universities such as the University of Georgia and Michigan State have also taken advantage of these pre-season games to help those in need by raising an astounding $339,447 according to onelineathens.com.

This exhibition game also marked the first time that Badgers have hosted South Alabama on campus as well as a Division I school “which has previously never happened before,” exclaimed Hall.

If you would like to help those impacted by recent hurricanes you can go to the Catholic Relief Services website at https://support.crs.org/donate/hurricane-irma-relief to donate.