The G.J. Kiwanis Club Orville and Francis Boge Football Scholarship will support student-athletes during their university journey
On December 15, Colorado Mesa University celebrated a decades-long partnership with the Grand Junction Kiwanis Club and ventured into an evolved partnership to support student-athletes.
G.J. Kiwanis President Nathan Rhodes and Foundation Chair Rick Tuma presented a $118,000 check to CMU to support the football program through scholarships. That $118,000 was matched dollar for dollar by the CMU Foundation as part of the Funding Maverick Champions campaign, bringing the total endowment to $236,000.
The G.J. Kiwanis Club Orville and Francis Boge Football Scholarship was created in honor of longtime CMU Athletic supporters Orville and Francis Boge. Orville was a CMU chemistry professor between 1956-1996 and volunteered for 40 years as a timekeeper and scoreboard operator for football, basketball and wrestling.
Since 2015, the G.J. Kiwanis Club has been the custodian for the Orville and Francis Boge Football Scholarship and has given $70,000 to the program. Moving forward, the CMU Foundation will hold, manage and administer the new endowment.
"We're handing it off to CMU because I'll remind you, this next year, CMU is going to celebrate their 100th anniversary,” said G.J. Kiwanis Foundation Chair Rick Tuma. “They've been doing this for a long, long time. They know how to manage money and they're going to be matching us dollar for dollar. So going forward for many, many years, they're going to be able to give student-athletes, specifically on the football team, a scholarship on a regular basis."
In attendance to receive the check from the G.J. Kiwanis Club was CMU Football Coach Miles Kochevar, CMU Senior Athletic Development Director Bryan Rooks, Assistant Athletic Director of Operations, Diversity and Inclusion Ricky Jackson and CMU Associate Director of Development Rick Adleman.