New bid to support Concordia’s athletes
Concordia’s student athletes perform double-duty. They are academically minded and sports-driven. The dual role means lots of hours spent on the field and in the library.
A new initiative supports the university’s athletic talent on both fronts. Proceeds from Concordia’s first-ever online auction — for a 12-person Montreal Canadiens loge valued at over $8,000 — will fuel continued sporting through awards.
There were two loges for a $3,000 minimum bid. The first was for a Canadiens-Panthers faceoff on January 6; the second a Canadiens-Red Wings matchup on April 5.
“I know that athletes put in great efforts and there’s little compensation,” says Robert Lando, BA 92, who placed a winning $4,700 bid with his wife Pina Spagnolo, BA 92, on the Canadiens-Red Wings game.
“I wanted to support that talent, and this was a good opportunity,” says Lando, who played semi-professional soccer while a student of actuarial mathematics.
Danny Minogue, whose $4,100 bid won in December, echoes Lando’s sentiment: “We have to foster athletic development — they’re the future of sport in Canada.”
Minogue, a former member of the Canadian Ski Team and current chairman of the board for Alpine Canada, notes that many business leaders have athletic backgrounds.
“I approach my career like I approach skiing: there’s a lot of planning, a lot of training and you have to keep your promises,” says Minogue.
Caroline Apollon, senior development officer at Advancement and Alumni Relations, says that many of the university’s athletes have distinguished careers.
“Concordians have gone onto the Olympics, the NFL,” she says. “Their leadership is coveted even outside of athletics.”
Auction proceeds have created the Robert Lando and Pina Spagnolo Awards for Student Athletes and the Minogue Medical Inc. Hockey Award.
Find out more ways to support student athletes at concordia.ca/giving.