From walking to rolling and everything in between: 2016 Charity Bowl presentation at Sigma Nu

My last blog post I talked about finding out that I was the recipient for the 2016 Charity Bowl by Sigma Nu. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the game and show some pictures from the presentation. JD Maloney was my contact from Sigma Nu during the process and he did an amazing job. The event was planned for Thursday, March 31, 2006 and was supposed to start about 4 PM. There was supposed to be a cheerleading contest before the game started between several of the sororities from Ole Miss. Then the game would start about 6 PM and they would do the presentation during halftime. Well, the week of the game all the weather reports indicated there would be severe weather Wednesday and Thursday. It was supposed to rain all night Wednesday and all during the day on Thursday. So this would leave the field completely wet and would be a problem for me getting around in my chair. So I had a conversation with JD and we decided to move the presentation to the Sigma Nu house on Friday at 6 PM. So I told everyone that was planning to come to the event to wait until Friday because of the chance of inclement weather. I told JD that I would make it to the game and if the weather was bad I would just return home to Tupelo.

So Wednesday night while I was in the bed thinking about the game it was coming a bad storm outside. I wake up Thursday and we did not have bad weather all during the day here. Me and my mom left the house about 4:30 PM and headed towards Oxford. The sun was out for most of the drive over there but it was a little overcast. We make it to the Oxford Lafayette Sportsplex and you could tell it had rained the previous day but the field was okay. I had to navigate around and find the driest spot but I was able to make it onto the field. I had enough time to eat something at the concession stand and then make it onto the field as soon as the game was beginning. I didn't realize how serious the game would really be until it started. On one side of the field you had the Sigma Nu football team and members of the fraternity. The other side of the field were members from the Kappa Alpha football team and members of that fraternity. There were also emcees for the game and they were members of Sigma Nu. They did a very good job of showing appreciation to the members of Kappa Alpha ha ha. They talked a little bit of smack but it was entertaining and fun.

So the game started and both teams were in full uniform with helmets and pads. They brought out the athletes and former high school football players for each team. There were some serious hits during the game. They had a full referee crew from the NFL. So the refs kept the game from getting out of hand. The effort from Sigma Nu was amazing. I'm a huge football fan so it was nice to get to see a game in the middle of the spring. During halftime I was presented with a jersey that the Sigma Nu team wore with the number 16 to represent 2016. It was absolutely amazing and everybody cheered really loudly. I even gave a little halftime speech to the Sigma Nu team for extra motivation for the second half. They came up short during the game but they never stopped playing their hearts out. They almost came back to when at the end after being down by several points at the beginning. But I think that was almost a life lesson within itself. It doesn't matter if you're down as long as you keep fighting and you never give up. Sometimes life hands you those type situations to learn from.

So after the game was over I had a chance to meet a few players that play football for Ole Miss. I was glad they came out to show support for a great cause. They are in the picture directly below. As soon as the game was over it started lightning and the rain was coming our way. So fortunately we were able to stay for the entire game and everything worked out perfectly. But we still had already planned to do the presentation the next night at the fraternity house. If we had known we could have had the entire event in one day. But you can never predict what the weather is going to do. And I really enjoyed how everything turned out.

OL from Ole Miss 70 Jordan Sims 55 Tyler Putman 50 Sean Rawlings

So Friday my parents, girlfriend, PCA, and myself headed to Oxford to the Sigma Nu fraternity house for the official Charity Bowl presentation. They invited us to eat at 5 PM and we had the presentation at 6 PM. It was parents day at the fraternity. So it was really nice because I got to meet several of the parents of all the guys from the fraternity. There were so many nice people that I got a chance to speak with. So in a way I was happy that they moved the presentation and I got the opportunity to check out the fraternity house. My brother also made the trip with his wife and a couple of his friends that were former members of Sigma Nu. So we got to eat with everybody. As soon as we finished eating we went outside by the pool and had the presentation. Kimmy, my girlfriend, made sure to get a video of the presentation so I could show everyone that was unable to make it. It was so surreal and I couldn't believe it was happening. I've always done everything in a volunteer capacity. I've never wanted any money for doing what I do. It was kind of the same feeling about my old job. It is a calling. Not everyone can do it. But volunteering and having a passion to grow Our Artworks into something amazing has never been about money. So I have to thank William Heard for nominating me for this award. Putting your heart into something really does eventually pay off.

So underneath this paragraph I added the video from the presentation at the Sigma Nu house. Brent Ferguson is the one that is talking about me and presents me with the check. He was one of the philanthropy chairmen and did an amazing job. Morgan Parmer was another chairman that I didn't mention that also worked very hard on this. So I want to give a shout out to those guys for doing such a great job of making this an amazing experience for me. JD is the one in the video standing behind Brent with the suit on. I would also like to thank the entire Sigma Nu fraternity. I was never in a fraternity but I realized after Friday that if I could go back I would try my best to be a Sigma Nu. I felt like an honorary member. So if you didn't get a chance to make it to the presentation I hope you will take the time to check out the video and pictures below. I made sure to get a few pictures inside the house so everybody could check them out. Hope you enjoy.