SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Sports teams are competitive by nature and Susquehanna University Director of Athletics Don Harnum stimulated some of those competitive juices among his teams, not to mention some blood cells, while helping the Red Cross at its recent annual Blood Drive at the university's O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
Harnum offered to contribute $200 to the fund-raising account of the Crusader sports team with the highest percentage of athletes participating in giving blood at the drive.
"The fact that we have a huge percentage of extremely healthy people in athletics led me to believe that we had some people who could give up a pint of blood to someone who was more in need," said Harnum.
The challenge produced results as the Red Cross surpassed its 200-pint goal by some 31 percent, collecting 223 good pints. Organizers believe the involvement by the Crusader coaches and athletes definitely helped them surpass the goal.
Ninety-five Susquehanna student-athletes gave blood on that day, out of the 254 people who came to donate at the drive. Under the leadership of seventh-year head coach Bill Switala, the women's volleyball team took top honors and the fund-raising prize as all 13 players participated.
Among the other teams, the football team had 50 percent of its active players (those who were not seniors or participating in spring sports) donate, and the women's swimming team had 48-percent of its 23-member roster give.
"There's no question that the participation by athletics was a big reason why we surpassed our goal. I hope we can build off of this for future drives," said Susquehanna Director of Admissions Chris Markle, one of the campus organizers for the drive.
The drive honored long-time Red Cross volunteer and Susquehanna Professor of Chemistry Neil Potter, who is also Susquehanna's football kicking coach and former head men's soccer coach.
