University of Memphis Athletics
Silent Auction A Success For Men's Soccer Program
Apr 02, 2009 | Men's Soccer
April 2, 2009
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's soccer program held their annual silent auction a week ago Thursday at the Billy J. Murphy Athletic Complex on the Park Avenue Campus at the U of M. The Tigers managed to raise $6,000 for the soccer program with several hot items including a signed jersey and soccer ball from Real Madrid and a golf lesson with Memphis women's golf head coach Beth Harrelson.
"We would just like to thank the many people that contributed and donated to make this event a success," said Memphis head coach Richie Grant. "In particular, we would like to thank Ross Paule and Richard Bute for doing a fantastic job as a part of our soccer panel for the event. They just had some very good advice for our players that are inspiring to continue their soccer careers. We would also like to thank Zito Aur who did a great job as the emcee of the event."
Paule and Bute are both former professional soccer players who currently make their home in the Mid-South. Paule, a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., went on to a nine year career playing in Major League Soccer for such teams as the Colorado Rapids, New York/New Jersey MetroStars and Columbus Crew. Bute, a native of Poland, played for the Memphis Americans of the MISL before becoming a staple in the Memphis community by helping to spearhead the soccer program at Christian Brother University. Bute served as the head coach of the Bucs program from 1985 to 1997. This was the first year the theme of the Silent Auction was centered on a panel of former soccer players and experts.
"It was just an idea we had in the spring," Grant said about the change to a soccer panel approach. Coach (Daron) Schoenrock and I had talked a bit about it and it is just something we decided to try out. It made for interesting night just being able to bounce some questions off of the panel and hear some of the advice they had to give."
Memphis will conclude the spring season with matches at the University of Kentucky against Dayton and Cincinnatti. The games will be played on April 18 in Lexington, Ky., with the Tigers match with the Flyers beginning at 11 a.m., and the match against the Bearcats commencing at 12:30 p.m.
"We have a few weeks to get ready for our games with Dayton and Cincinnati," Grant said. "We think they are really good spring matches to finish with. With both programs being in such good conferences, they should make for good tests. They are two programs we haven't played against in a while. This has been a spring where we had such a young group of players . So it is just vital for us to get as many games in as possible for the lads."
