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Letter from Jim Patterson
Come and Knock on our Door
Who Makes Up Our Beaver Nation
Alumni Focus
What’s Goin’ On
Check Your Calendars Everyday Champions
Hello Beaver Nation, It is that time of year again! Campus is coming back to life as a new academic year draws near. Our athletic season is already upon us and the momentum being forged by our volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and football programs is inspiring. That positive momentum is continuing on the other fronts as well. We are moving toward completing the fundraising phase of the Victory through Valley campaign to rebuild and revitalize the Valley Football Center. We are focused on mid-November to reach 90 percent milestone, which will trigger the construction phase of the campaign. Beaver Nation will begin to see changes to the existing facility shortly after the conclusion of our 2015 home football season. We are also very excited to be working in conjunction with our partners within Oregon State Athletics on a revitalization of the Everyday Champions initiative. This effort, the genesis of which occurred during Todd Stansbury’s initial time at OSU, is designed to tell the stories of our student-athletes beyond their respective field of play. It is a program that will enable our student-athletes to be the best of the best in life after Oregon State. It is obviously our goal to aid these young men and women in their journey toward a college degree, but our true success will be judged on where these young alumni are five to 10 years after graduation. An Everyday Champion is someone who is accountable, responsible, selfless, fearless, humble, unique and creative. He or she will strive for competitive and academic excellence, persevere, and embrace every challenge. An Everyday Champion is a leader. Current programs such as Beavers without Borders, SAAC and Beyond Football will be joined by new initiatives to aid our student-athletes in areas of leadership, personal and professional development. These efforts will not be confined to our campus community. We will be reaching out to the corporate community as well to become involved in preparing our student-athletes for life after college. You will be hearing more and more about the different levels of this program, and how you can be involved, in the very near future. Thank you for all you do for our student-athletes in support of OSU Athletics. Go Beavs! Jim Patterson
Sr. Associate AD, Development
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Come and Knock on Our Door
with Yvenson Bernard
What does our offices say about us? How do they tell our stories?
Yvenson Bernard started as a Discovery Officer in February of 2015, working primarily with prospective donors and former student-athletes. The 2007 Emerald Bowl was special to Yve because it was the last time he wore the Orange & Black as one of the most prolific running backs in program history.
Yve has made it a point to give back to the community. He remembers being a kid and wishing to take stadium tours. “This is my time and age to be giving back to the kids.”
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Yve was a father figure to his younger brother, Giovanni (Gio). They’re relationship runs deeper than other siblings.
My son is a blessing. When you grow up, you never think about becoming a man, a parent. When you create a life, it is pretty special.
Who Makes Up Our Beaver Nation
Profiling Doug Tindall
Our donors have stories as well. What is yours?
Doug Tindall is a rarity (unfortunately) in college football. He has not missed a home Oregon State Football game in 48 seasons! Doug took some time to recall some of his fondest moments as a Beaver and at Parker/Reser Stadium. My first memories of OSU football date back to the Terry Baker days when I was about six years old. Parker Stadium was a relatively small bowl, not even the west side had been built, and the end zones were checkerboard. A cannon was fired after every Beaver TD. I kind of got hooked back then. Game day is always good because of the excitement that the game brings, but winning makes game day great. When thinking about my single favorite moment ... it is extremely hard. There are simply too many times when OSU student-athletes have done things that very few thought were possible, or come through in the most critical of situations. Even in the difficult years in the late 70’s and early 80’s, when we never won more than three games in a year, there were some notably great efforts. If I was made to pick one single moment as the most exciting, I think it would be Jess Lewis bringing down O.J. Simpson from behind to prevent a score in the 1967, 3-0, win over USC. There have been several exciting seasons as well, but the 2000-01 season where we went 11-1, culminating with a Fiesta Bowl stomping of Notre Dame, was probably the most exciting overall. There have been times when missing a home game was a possibility. I can think of four occasions. One was work related when I needed to be in Atlanta on a Sunday after a home football game. I managed that with a red-eye flight out of Portland about 11:30 p.m. after a day game. Another was in 1981 when we had a pretty significant wind storm on the Friday night before the Arizona game. We had won only one game that year, and OSU was actually suggesting that people not come to the game because there were a lot of roads blocked from downed trees. We went anyway. The closest to missing a game was in 1994. My wife Jana had emergency surgery several days before a home game. By Thursday she was fine and out of danger, but still in the hospital. I asked if she would mind if I went to the game as long as she was still feeling well, and she said, “Of course it’s fine. I never thought you wouldn’t go.” — Doug Tindall ‘78
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Alumni Focus Lamar Hurd — The Other Side of Basketball Our student-athletes aspire to be champions in all facets of their college career and that pursuit continues after they leave campus. Former Oregon State point guard, Lamar Hurd, has been on a long basketball journey. He became obsessed with the sport early in his childhood, and this was evident when he was 11 years old. After spending a year of begging his mother to let him move out of her Houston home in order to live with a basketball coach, Jerome Tang, 90 minutes north in Cleveland, Texas. Lamar’s wish was finally granted. He spent his sixth grade year living with Tang during the week days, and then returning home to Houston on weekends to be with his family. A year later, the entire Hurd family re-located to Cleveland, Texas, where Lamar would spend a total of seven years playing under Tang’s influence, and where he would eventually graduate from Heritage Christian Academy. READ MORE ...
#GOBEAVS
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After playing four collegiate seasons at Oregon State, Lamar played a season in the BBL, Germany’s highest professional basketball league. Following that season in Europe, he returned to Oregon in the summer of 2007 with the intent of training before either returning overseas or accepting an invitation in the NBA D-league. That fall, Lamar began working as a basketball coach at The Hoop in Beaverton. He agreed to coach a team of elementary students with the understanding between the general manager and he that once called upon by a professional basketball team, Lamar was free to leave immediately. However, when the kids took the floor for their first practice, Lamar’s childhood flashed before his eyes. Specifically, his time with his childhood coach, Jerome Tang, resonated with him in a way that it hadn’t prior. Lamar viewed this moment in his life as his responsibility to give kids all the things that his coach gave him: valuable life experiences and teaching through the game of basketball. At this time, Lamar decided to end his professional basketball career in order to focus on the kids. After becoming the Director of Basketball at The Hoop in Beaverton in 2008 and also co-owning All In One Basketball from 2009-2012, Lamar teamed up with fellow Oregon State alum, JS Nash, in 2012 to create the non-profit The Other Side of Basketball. The Other Side of Basketball (TOSOB) is an experience-based organization whose mission is: “We challenge kids to refine their character, to live by integrity, and to then trust their spirit.” TOSOB’s primary target is kids who have a strong enough passion for the game
of basketball (or a passion for affiliation with the game) that they’ll allow that passion to dictate their lifestyle. Regardless of their gender, race, socio-economic status, skill or ability, the organization wants to provide those kids the opportunity to be regularly surrounded by its carefully-selected coaches and mentors, the game of basketball, and the game’s tangible and intangible effects. Such effects include (but are not limited to): gaining confidence, learning discipline, working within a team, establishing communication skills, and developing a culture that can be used to help others. TOSOB provides opportunities for kids to play on competitive teams under Maeko Basketball (“Maeko” means Child of Truth), and it also provides opportunities for kids to have a recreational training or camp experience. In addition to these on-court initiatives, TOSOB offers kids the chance to visit various universities and worksites in order to be exposed to the challenges and opportunities that are associated with these places. The organization seeks to provide kids with an academically conducive atmosphere, whether it’s mandatory studying and learning sessions, periodic check-ups with parents, or school visits. Each year, TOSOB provides its kids with opportunities to do philanthropic work in their community, and internationally; the goal is to make this type of work a lifestyle rather than an event. In the summer of 2013, TOSOB served in Haiti at the Maranatha House orphanage for the first time, and that has since become an annual trip. In the fall of 2014, TOSOB began a foster youth initiative, and since then has served over 100 foster kids in Multnomah
and Washington counties. A highlight of the organization’s foster youth initiative came in August of this year when NFL Hall of Famer, Ronnie Lott, joined TOSOB in Beaverton for their event geared specifically for foster kids and for kids from the St. Mary’s Home for Boys. Additionally, TOSOB has served Special Olympics in 2015, and next on the agenda for this year are the Hillcrest Youth Correctional facility and Victory Academy, which is Oregon’s only year-round accredited school for children affected by autism. Although Lamar believes The Other Side of Basketball has been his most successful mission-centered effort to date, he knows that the organization has the ability to significantly increase its level of impact. In order to do this, TOSOB needs to hire a full-time Director of Community Development. This will allow the organization to greatly advance its community mission of bridging the gap between kids of all ages, demographics, and backgrounds. But, they need your help! If you would like to learn more about The Other Side of Basketball, including how you may help, please visit www. TheOtherSideOfBasketball. org. They would be happy to spend time sharing with you who they are, where they came from, and where they’d like to go.
What’s Goin’ On
Our Beaver Nation Events
There are ample opportunities to celebrate our collective love of Beaver Athletics.
Men’s Basketball Tip-Off Dinner October 7 Oregon Convention Center 6 p.m. — Reception 7 p.m. — Dinner Deadline to register is September 30 https://www.ourbeavernation.com/ mens-basketball-tip-off-dinner-2/
Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Dinner October 20 Reser Stadium, Club Level 6 p.m. — Social 7 p.m. — Dinner and Program Deadline to register is October 13 https://www.ourbeavernation.com/ womens-basketball-tip-off-dinner-2/
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Check Your Calendars
Annual Fund
This is the one place where you can have a direct impact on every one of our over 500 student-athletes by providing them with a phenomenal opportunity to receive a world class education, while also competing in the sport they love at a championship level. Be a part of strengthening the tradition of Oregon State Athletics, and unite in support of our mission developing Everyday Champions. Funds are raised in support of our 500+ student-athletes in terms of scholarships, room & board, books, etc., on an annual basis in order to provide the best experience possible while enrolled at OSU.
9-30-15 Deadline to register for MBB Tip-Off Dinner
10-24-15 Football Homecoming vs. Colorado
11-27-15 Civil War Football Game
12-1-15 End of Year Mailing
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Everyday Champions
Succeeding on and off the field
The impact our donors have on our student-athletes is carried on by them so they may have an impact on their community!
A Legacy of Learning Before beginning her pursuit of an engineering degree at Oregon State, OSU Softball’s Bev Miller had five family members follow the same career path (father, sister, uncle, cousin, grandfather). According to Bev, engineering is good preparation for softball, and vice versa, because of the discipline and precision involved in both areas. Listen to Bev’s story at youtube.com/ourbeavernation.
“We are less about being an engineering family but more about how we can use our skills to help people. I chose Oregon State not only because we have one of the best engineering programs in the area, but also because our coaches want us to be successful as students and as athletes.” 7 — Bev Miller, OSU Softball