Coach Cal spoke at Samford University yesterday, where former UK director of basketball operations Martin Newton is now AD, and raised a ton of money for the university while he was there.
[LEFT][COLOR=#444E5C][FONT=Verdana][I]Martin Newton’s Kentucky connections continued Thursday when Samford raised about $102,000 to hear John Calipari speak at a fundraiser.
It will be harder to get Calipari back to the Pete Hanna Center in 2013.
[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444E5C][FONT=Verdana][I]
“This is the closest I’m ever going to get to this building,” said Calipari, who prefers Kentucky’s game against Samford in Birmingham to be at the BJCC Arena.[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444E5C][FONT=Verdana][I]Newton previously served under Calipari as Kentucky’s director of basketball operations.
The Bulldog Bash was a fundraiser for the 17 teams at Samford, which spent $14.3 million on athletics in 2010-11, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444E5C][FONT=Verdana][I]
Tables of eight were sold for $2,000 to hear Calipari talk. When former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden spoke at a past fundraiser, Samford raised about $53,000 with tables priced at $1,000 and $1,500.
[/I][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#444E5C][FONT=Verdana][I]
“I’ve been part of building programs and what (Newton’s) trying to do here,” Calipari said. “I’ve lived a couple of those. It’s hard, but it’s rewarding and it’s rewarding for everybody.”
[URL=”http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/04/john_calipari_speech_helps_sam.html”]Read Entire Article[/URL][/I][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
