Big 12 helps bolster Leadership Olathe project at KSD
The Big 12 Conference was in Kansas City Tuesday for its basketball media day, but commissioner Bob Bowlsby and some other Big 12 officials took care of some more pressing issues on Monday afternoon.
That’s when the commissioner joined Kansas City Sports Commission CEO Kathy Nelson, Kansas School for the Deaf assistant superintendent Luanne Barron and members of Leadership Olathe Class of 2016 for a ribbon cutting at the KSD gymnasium to celebrate the renovations the Big 12 helped with, courtesy of the Big 12 Legacy Project.
This year’s Leadership Olathe class decided that their community service project would be to help the KSD with some much needed athletic enhancements, including a new athletic department storage building, concrete pad for the shed, a blocking sled, concession stand and other sports program enhancements for the KSD.
After their Leadership Olathe graduation in May, the class continued to look for others to help with those additional “sports program enhancements.” Enter the Big 12 and the Kansas City Sports Commission.
By utilizing the Big 12 Legacy Project, the Big 12 Conference and the KC Sports Commission helped supplement what this year’s Leadership Olathe class started with their ambitious community service project.
Through the generosity of the Big 12, its corporate partners and other community members, the KSD received a refurbished gym – including a newly painted and finished basketball court, new wall padding, new paint on the bleachers and a new motor to allow the school to move the bleachers in and out.
“This is a collaboration of a great many people,” Bowlsby said at the Monday press conference. “I hope you (KSD) consider yourself a part of the Big 12 because we certainly consider you a part of the Big 12.”
Here’s a look at some of the photos from Monday’s press conference and a look at what Bowlsby and Nelson has to say about the partnership.