FORT MYERS, Fla. – With great excitement, the FGCU Department of Athletics announced Friday night that the Chris & Brianne Sale Family has made a $1 million lead gift to officially launch the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign. The Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence (E.A.G.L.E.) fundraising campaign targets raising $10 million overall in support of FGCU Athletics.
 
"There has been a core group of people at FGCU who have really helped the University grow over the years. The Swanson Family has done so much for the baseball program specifically and we're trying to broaden that support overall," said Sale who made his gift public at Friday's Night at the Nest gala. "It's been great what supporters like the Swanson Family have done; I'm happy to follow in their footsteps to help make an impact. This University holds so many special memories for Brianne and I - we have discussed making this donation for a while and we just want to do what we can to help make FGCU bigger and better. "
 
The E.A.G.L.E. Campaign, with the slogan 'It Takes A Team', will focus on several critical components geared towards elevating the student-athlete experience at FGCU. Those areas include scholarships, nutrition, mental health, life skills (personal, career, social), mentoring/leadership training, and facility enhancements, including strength and conditioning and basketball locker room upgrades.
 
"On behalf of us all, I thank Chris and Brianne for their generosity in making this gift. Our fundraising efforts make it possible to offer a number of programs and services which enhance the experience of our student-athletes and in turn, enrich their complete experience at FGCU," said President Mike Martin. "The generosity of donors have helped make our Athletic Department first rate."
 
The Sale Family gift will go towards a new Daktronics videoboard system at Swanson Stadium. The new videoboard will bear the name 'Chris & Brianne Sale Family' in honor of their generosity. The $1 million dollar gift is the largest donation by both a former Eagle student-athlete, as well as an individual undergraduate alum in FGCU history.
 
"Chris and Brianne's generosity is truly amazing with this gift to launch the new campaign. As we get ready to embark on our third decade as an intercollegiate athletics program, we proudly look back on so many overall accomplishments that are hard for many others to comprehend given our youth. Much of what has been accomplished has been due to the tremendous generosity of our local community who have essentially adopted us," said Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh. "In turn, as we look to build upon this strong foundation, it is imperative that we continue to generate external resources to not only provide our coaches and student-athletes the tools to remain competitive on the academic and athletics fronts, but to also do so in regards to best enabling us to provide the additional funding relative to those who we desire to continue to compete well against.  Producing a successful E.A.G.L.E. Campaign is a critical piece as we move forward into the 2020's."
 
As part of the Department of Athletics long term vision for enhancing all facets of its support for student-athlete success, the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign is the next component of the previous Alico Arena Addition & Expansion Project campaign, which concluded in November 2017.
 
The initial Alico Arena expansion project was an $8 million effort which included fan experience enhancements for the arena, the addition of the Hartley Academic Resource Center, an expansion to the Schreiner Sports Medicine Facility, the creation of new basketball and development staff offices, enhanced administrative spaces and a state-of-the-art theatre film room.
 
Additionally, portions of that project combined with the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign will augment and update The Sublett Strength & Conditioning Center. A total of $4 million of the initial campaign also was utilized in the areas of scholarships, recruiting budgets, additional facility enhancements and strategic areas of focus.
 
"We are so appreciative of all our terrific donors who have generously already given and allowed our long-desired Alico expansion to come to fruition. In particular, these enhancements have significantly assisted both our daily functional capabilities to serve our student-athletes, as well as our equally important recruitment efforts," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Karl Smesko.
 
To make a gift to the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign or for more information, please contact Associate Athletics Director for Advancement Graham Diemer by phone at 239-590-7117 or via email at gdiemer@fgcu.edu.

For complete coverage of FGCU athletics, follow the Eagles on Twitter at @FGCUEagles, on Facebook and Instagram at @FGCUAthletics and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. To read more about the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign or to make a donation visit www.fgcuathletics.com/JoinOurTeam.



#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 80 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 36 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as two of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.35 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2018 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for twenty consecutive semesters.  The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.