Brian Barefoot Athletics Challenge Reaches New Heights

The game is over and the results are in—the 2019 Brian Barefoot Athletics Challenge was a resounding success!

For the fifth year, former Babson President Brian Barefoot ’66, H’09, MP’01 challenged his fellow alumni athletes and parents of student-athletes to give to their favorite Babson team. In this year’s competition, 1,832 donors contributed more than $173,429—both all-time highs.

The challenge is made possible by the generosity of the Barefoot family, longtime supporters and champions of Babson Athletics and the College’s student-athletes. Earlier this year, Brian and his wife, Pamela P. Barefoot MP’01, made a $2 million gift to establish the Pamela P. and Brian M. Barefoot Athletics Director position.

Every gift made during the challenge will go directly to the teams, supporting on-field accomplishments that, in the last three years, include eight NCAA Round of 16 finishes or better, two teams reaching the NCAA Final Four, and one national championship. In addition to these achievements, support has enabled upgraded facilities and equipment; team trips to California, Florida, Chicago and Washington, DC; and earning a top five percent ranking in the 2017 NACDA Directors’ Cup standings, awarded to the nation’s best overall collegiate athletics programs.

“On behalf of the athletics department, I am immensely grateful to our alumni, parents, student-athletes and friends of the program for their support during this year’s historic challenge,” said Pamela P. and Brian M. Barefoot Senior Director of Athletics and Athletics Advancement Mike Lynch. “These gifts help us transform the experience for every one of our student-athletes and provide us with the opportunity to bring the athletics program at Babson to an even higher level. I also thank Brian for his continued exemplary leadership and support.”

Challenge Winners Score Big

The weeklong competition included mini competitions along the way. Teams had the opportunity to earn $5,000, $3,000 or $2,000 in additional funding by securing gifts from alumni and parent donors. The $10,000 challenge total was made possible by the generosity of the Barefoot family.

Men’s lacrosse won the first challenge and took the $2,000 prize for being the first team to reach 100 percent of their participation goal.

For achieving the highest percentage of donors toward (or above) their goal, softball scored the second challenge prize of $5,000. Field Hockey won an additional $3,000 for achieving the second-highest percentage of donors toward their goal.

In addition to the overall competitions, individual teams hosted their own challenges. Among those: Softball earned an additional $1,000 for reaching their goal of 64 donors, thanks to the support of Jessica Reed ’03, and Men’s and Women’s Skiing secured an additional $1,000 for reaching their goal of 62 donors, thanks to a gift from Scott Johnson ’78.

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