University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols' No-Shave Month A Fun Fundraiser For ACS
December 08, 2015 | General
Check Out Headshots and Money Raised at VolsNoShave.com
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Things got hairy in the athletics department at Tennessee in November, and it had nothing to do with close wins on fields of competition.
Staff members in the department used a "No-Shave November" contest to raise money for the American Cancer Society in a month that saw facial hair and friendly competition grow faster than ever.
"There are a lot of causes that we go through throughout the year and cancer is a big one," said Tyler Johnson, associate athletics director for business and internal affairs. "There are various things that we do throughout the year, but this was an opportunity to do something different and it was something that created a lot of energy and excitement. It was an opportunity to do something fun while talking about and recognizing something serious."
Johnson helped organize the competition with director of internet communications Chris Echols, who built a website, VolsNoShave.com, where friends and family could make donations and vote on the best beard.
"Once we saw how much good it was doing and how much money we could raise for the American Cancer Society, it was pretty easy to see that these guys cared enough about this to ruin relationships with wives, friends and family for a really good cause," Echols said.
Having participation from Tennessee athletics was exciting for ACS as well.
"It is very rare for us to get a call and hear that there is such an amazing organization that is raising money for the American Cancer Society, said Stacey Clark, community manager for ACS. "We have a lot of organizations that participate with us, but that is usually us going out and asking. To have someone like UT Athletics decide to it on their own and give us a call, we were absolutely thrilled beyond words."
In addition to participating in the competition, members of the staff devoted time and resources to building the excitement to maximize the money raised for ACS. Photographers Donald Page and Craig Bisacre shot individual and group photos, which we retouched to mimic the school photos that so many grew up bringing home.
"Once we saw the headshots, we all felt pretty strongly that the portraiture need to reflect the classiness and dignity of the guys participating," Echols said. "[Softball director of operations] Patrick Lawson set the tone and it went from there."
Despite an all-time great photo from Lawson, assistant director for athletic facilities Scott Zurcher gained the greatest internet following and won the online vote. The financial contribution to American Cancer Society quickly eclipsed the $3000 mark, with five of the competitors raising more than $200 each.
"It's not just about the amount of money raised, but the camaraderie," Johnson said. "Everybody had a different story of how cancer has impacted their lives. They didn't hesitate, the responses all came in the first day or two. We ended up with 42 people, which was an amazing turnout."
Due to work commitments, only 34 of the competitors made the final photo, but all 42 remained unshaven until the end. "The end" being literally moments after the photo was taken on Nov. 30.
They had no choice. Though some members did have to groom the growth a bit to maintain a professional appearance, everyone contributed to keeping all 42 in the game until the end.
"It was great, good-natured humor," Johnson said of the banter, which included a series of emails that kept the competitors on their toes. "But they were encouraging each other too and there was some accountability. When some guys tried to tap out, they would get an email with some man shaming and they couldn't tap out."
