Thanks for Giving

November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving wishes to Hoyas everywhere. And special thanks to the thousands of Hoya alums, families and friends who provide the financial support needed to sustain Georgetown athletics at its present level.

Hoyas Unlimited, the official support organization for sports on the Hilltop, was founded thirty-five years ago by a coalition of alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends. Today, nearly 4,000 supporters give close to $2 million annually.

That's not all. Since the mid-1980's when it was established, the Athletics committee of the University's Board of Regents has assisted the Athletic Department in raising major gifts for such capital needs as facilities, and coaching and scholarship endowments. In the recent Georgetown Forever fund raising campaign, generous individuals, corporations and foundations committed more than $55 million to athletics.

Today, new leadership within the Athletic Department is fashioning an ambitious vision to improve athletic programs across the board. In addition, when you factor in the rising ante just to remain competitive in Division I athletics, the University, forever grateful for the support to-date, is going to ask all of us, where possible, to do more.

Hoyas Unlimited prez and field hockey parent Maura Devaney (right) and Hoyas Director Jen Montgomery (left) present check to AD Bernard Muir

Both Hoyas Unlimited and the Regents' Athletics committee are currently led by very talented and committed women grads. Maura Devaney '76 is the first female president of Hoyas and Mary Taylor Behrens '83 is the first woman chair of the Athletics committee. Bringing their own respective experiences -- Maura, as a parent of Hoya athletes and Mary, as a former Georgetown athlete -- they selflessly devote many hours to making athletics even more successful than it has been.

So on this day of thanksgiving, I give foremost thanks to these two individuals and the volunteers they represent. You have the gratitude of Hoya fans world-wide. Hoya, Hoya Saxa!

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Regents' Athletic Chair and former track standout Mary Taylor Behrens with AD Emeritus Frank Rienzo

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