Athletic Network First Anniversary – Aug. 28, 2003

On August 28, 2002 the Athletic Network was unveiled and declared operational at a press conference at the Football Stadium. The attendees spilled over into the mezzanine area. Ron Gomez emceed the press conference, Mike Spears did a superb job of walking everyone through the website and Quintess Catering provided wonderful refreshments. Within 24 hours of the announcement, the website had over 3,200 visitors.

Since that time over 200 captains have been appointed in the various sports and support groups, over 1,000 additional profiles have been added, News goes out all over the world each day, and former current/former athletes/support groups are communicating more with each other and are connected with the university.

Two links have been added to the Home Page since the press conference: Photo Gallery, which has 25 major links with hundreds of pictures and another link which contains facility improvements, ticket information, specific information on athletic development (which has several links). The information contained in this link allows any fan, supporter, former student, etc., to be current on all athletic happenings. One can’t help but note the tremendous efforts being made to improve our athletic program. Your help in informing others of the website is appreciated.

We want to thank everyone who has helped build the AN. The AN website averages over 1,000 visitors per day, with big days of over 5,700 and over 4,500. A special thanks to those who have posted profiles, our captains, our sponsors, our FAN (Friends of AN – link on News page), our host (Firefly Digital) and the many people at the University who assist the AN in many capacities. A special thanks goes to Dr. Authement and Liz Landry for believing in the AN concept and for allowing us to provide this unique service.

The AN mission remains the same: identify, locate and communicate with current/former athletes/support groups. We are deeply gratified at the progress of the AN during this first year and sincerely appreciate your role in that effort.
Rocke Roy has agreed to serve as our captain for deceased persons. Rocke’s profile is posted on the AN and contains his email address.

Please go out and celebrate the Athletic Network’s anniversary tomorrow – get a teammate to Submit their profile so they can join in the enjoyment and satisfaction of being connected with the AN.

Peace to you and your loved ones,
Ed Dugas and John Dugas