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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Thurmond Returns to Help BGSU Athletics
May 22, 2001 | General
May 22, 2001
By JACK CARLE, Sentinel Sports Editor
The only basketball player to ever have his number retired at Bowling Green, returns to campus next Saturday to help raise money for current Falcon student-athletes.
Nate Thurmond, currently living in San Francisco where he owns and runs Big Nate's Barbecue, is the honorary chairman for the second annual Falcon Club Auction in Olscamp Hall. Beginning at 6 p.m., individuals will be able to bid on more than 200 sports, art, entertainment and travel related items during the silent and live auctions.
Last year's auction raised more than $90,000, which was used to create a Falcon Club endowment to support scholarships for student-athletes. "The main focus is to try to raise some money for the BGSU athletic department," Thurmond said earlier this week in a telephone interview. "That's the main reason I'll be there.
"The sports program at any university, certainly enhances the name of the university. So we want to raise as much money as we can. I would certainly like to be in the situation where we raise more money than ever."
Thurmond was last on campus nearly 15 years ago when his number was retired. "I'm kind of excited for my wife because she's never been to Bowling Green to see the campus," Thurmond said. "It should be a real fun time. Jane (Myers, BG's assistant athletic director for development), is scraping up people who knew me back more years than I would like to recall."
During the early 1960s, Thurmond was an All-American center for the Falcons on two Mid-American Conference championship teams while earning unanimous first-team All-MAC honors in his three seasons at BG. He went on to enjoy a 14-year NBA career in which he was selected to seven All-Star teams.
Thurmond was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 and honored in 1998 as one of the top 50 players in NBA history.
Thurmond played for Harold Anderson at BG and the two were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in the same year.
"Coach Anderson was one of the big reasons I went to Bowling Green," Thurmond said. "Coach Anderson and his wife, Colinne, were just good people. She used to help us with our studies and so forth and we got to know the family very well. It was like leaving one family and coming to another family."
"I really liked the physical layout of the campus. I went to Ohio State to visit, I thought it was horrible, it was so big. Bowling Green just fit my needs, nurturing me along and helping me out in life. I made a good choice."
Myers said Thurmond's return is exciting and gratifying. "It's important to keep former student-athletes involved with the university since they're the ones who helped create our Falcon traditions," she said. "Their involvement provides a bridge between the past and the present. It underscores the loyalty and commitment."
Included in the items to be auctioned are: a 61-inch by 40-inch big screen television, including DVD, delivery, installation and setup, numerous golf packages, including one with ESPN broadcaster, and 1994 BG graduate, Jason Jackson and other ESPN on-air personalities in Hartford, Conn., a condo for a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a Labor Day houseboat trip for between 10 and 12 at Lake Cumberland, Tenn., various sports ticket packages, including four tickets for the 2002 NCAA men's Final Four in Atlanta, and numerous autographed memorabilia, including a basketball autographed by Anthony Stacey, BG's career leading scorer, a baseball and bat autographed by former BG star Andy Tracy, now with the Montreal Expos.
