celebrate Odus Mitchell Pavillion and Joe Greene Statue

aztecskin · December 9, 2015

I swear I posted this already, but it was on my phone, so you never know.
I would encourage you to work with UNT to set up at donation account for this, if serious. That way you can still use credit cards to donate online, but individual donations get the non-profit tax benefit, unlike with the gofundme idea. Furthermore, UNT (and alumni and students) benefits by improving their percentage of alumni donating figure. We also complain about UNT not reaching out to alumni for donations, so this solves part of that by getting alumni back in touch with UNT Development, thereby getting info in the database for future fundraising efforts. Additionally, I don't believe UNT would charge for this account, unlike gofundme. (On that last point I could be wrong. They do charge a fee for endowment accounts, but those have interest and are managed by the university. I think this type of account would just be more straightforward, like a piggy bank.)
Just my two cents.

Yeah given that we would have to work closely with the university (or at least the athletic department) getting the donation method with the least friction would be ideal. However, that could still be gofundme. After all the donation number will still be a substantial amount, so we'd be still helping their numbers with the added convenience of a modern fund raising methodology.

We'd lose the benefit of doing UNT Development's job for them, but that's not a huge loss ;).

At the moment, I believe we are waiting on a few things regarding some possible existing similar effort but @Tyler Maryak should be good to draft a narrative.

I am completely serious about this. I think it would be cool for a number of reasons:

1. Having a kewl statue of a UNT football legend.

2. That this is an alumni/supporter generated idea

3. That it is within reason. We aren't trying to raise $400 million to build a new basketball arena here. (Although that would be cool, too.)

As I see it the plan o' action is as follows:

1. Draft a narrative with the tenets that A) a quality MJG statue is built B) near the stadium C) preferably near East Gate 4 D) with Side Show Joe likely the sculptor. Tyler is on it.

2. Meet with the stakeholders. We'd need a champion for the cause within the university. We already have a name and email address and so a starting point. I imagine this would involve various members from the alumni association, the athletic department, the university, perhaps the football alumni association (there such a thing?). This will largely be about attaining approval.

3. Raise money. A UNT Development account / GoFundMe / door-to-door drive along with a nice little marketing site that says "Hey this is a good idea so donate". Also, some discussion with some Big Money people. Someone mentioned Coca-Cola. Sure! I put the realistic ceiling for an internet-led donation at something like a third of the $85K (using the highest figure quoted) so we'll need some big-monied folks to make up the difference.

4. Sculpting it. Assuming the stakeholders are cool with Side Show Joe doing it (I can foresee someone somewhere wanting their own personal friend for the gig or something equally disappointing), it will take the 8-12 months from Check-In-Hand date.

5. Celebrate good times, come on. Then we get to look at it and grumble about the way we would have done it, and maybe point out some weird things, and / or inflate our roles in its creation. This is an essential part of any collaborative effort and one I look forward to participating in greatly. Maybe mention a sleep apnea machine for good measure.

Aldo · December 9, 2015

Multiple sponsors? Peterbilt, John Williams, Budweiser, Michael Burgess?

adman · December 9, 2015

Ultimately I think you do a statue of every retired number in the stadium and you put them on each side of the sidewalk leading to the east gate 4 (where the team walks in) Joe would be at end near the gate - probably facing uphill. So the gist is the team walks into the game past all the greats. You see those numbers under the scoreboard but the casual fan has no idea who they are or their significance this would solve that and be a cool moment each home game. Would look good on camera too.

El Paso Eagle · December 9, 2015

Ultimately I think you do a statue of every retired number in the stadium and you put them on each side of the sidewalk leading to the east gate 4 (where the team walks in) Joe would be at end near the gate - probably facing uphill. So the gist is the team walks into the game past all the greats. You see those numbers under the scoreboard but the casual fan has no idea who they are or their significance this would solve that and be a cool moment each home game. Would look good on camera too.

I was thinking the same way - UNT's "Walk With Legends"

aztecskin · December 9, 2015

I was thinking the same way - UNT's "Walk With Legends"

It's a nice long term goal.

97and03 · December 9, 2015

Yeah given that we would have to work closely with the university (or at least the athletic department) getting the donation method with the least friction would be ideal. However, that could still be gofundme. After all the donation number will still be a substantial amount, so we'd be still helping their numbers with the added convenience of a modern fund raising methodology.
We'd lose the benefit of doing UNT Development's job for them, but that's not a huge loss ;).

I think the loss isn't regarding the total amount, it is the individual donations. Universities are in part judged in some of these rankings by the percentage of alumni giving. The higher the percentage, the better for a school's ranking - thereby increasing the prestige of your degree.

See?

greenjoe · December 10, 2015

I like the idea of having Coca-Cola involved. The statue could be named, "Hey kid." Maybe depicted as Joe's scene with jersey over his shoulder holding a Coke. Just before throwing the jersey to the kid.

I still think this would be a good place to provide information as to the Mean Green nickname.

SilverEagle · December 10, 2015

I like the idea of having Coca-Cola involved. The statue could be named, "Hey kid." Maybe depicted as Joe's scene with jersey over his shoulder holding a Coke. Just before throwing the jersey to the kid.

I still think this would be a good place to provide information as to the Mean Green nickname.

Pittsburgh can do their own statue. This is Joe Greene the All-American @ North Texas.

MeanGreenTexan · December 10, 2015

Pittsburgh can do their own statue. This is Joe Greene the All-American @ North Texas.

Exactly. If Coke or anyone else wants to be involved, that's fantastic, but this isn't a Steeler Joe Greene statue. This is a NT Joe Greene statue.

greenjoe · December 10, 2015

I know and I agree. However, we've got an asset that the entire country is familiar with. Only they know him as Pittsburg Steeler Joe. I was only thinking that we could take advantage of that to draw attention to North Texas. The nation knows Mean Joe Greene. Not everyone knows he went to school here first.

UNTLifer · December 10, 2015

So, who would you put on the "Walk of Legends?"

Joe Greene, Abner Haynes, Steve Ramsey, Ronnie Shanklin, Cedric Hardeman, Ray Renfro, Brandon Kennedy, Patrick Cobbs, Diet Coke Boy, etc...

Aldo · December 11, 2015

So, who would you put on the "Walk of Legends?"
Joe Greene, Abner Haynes, Steve Ramsey, Ronnie Shanklin, Cedric Hardeman, Ray Renfro, Brandon Kennedy, Patrick Cobbs, Diet Coke Boy, etc...

anyone have the century team roster handy? Might help guide.

MeanGreenTexan · December 11, 2015

So, who would you put on the "Walk of Legends?"
Joe Greene, Abner Haynes, Steve Ramsey, Ronnie Shanklin, Cedric Hardeman, Ray Renfro, Brandon Kennedy, Patrick Cobbs, Diet Coke Boy, etc...

I'd probably only start with the first one, maybe 2.