The athletic departments of The University of South Dakota and Augustana College have announced a joint fund-raising effort in the week leading up to the Coyote-Vikings football game on Saturday, Oct. 21, with all monies raised by this effort being donated to the "Benefit Fund for Mike Freidel." A featured component of this fund-raising drive will be an online auction hosted on both school's athletic websites (
www.GoAugie.com and
www.usdcoyotes.com), as well as a separate silent auction at the DakotaDome on the day of the game.
"Mike has positively impacted the lives of many people at Augustana and USD. We are proud to team with the University of South Dakota in this joint effort to support Mike, Joni, and their family," Augustana Director of Athletic Development
Jon Eng said.
Both online auctions will begin on Friday, Oct. 13, and will end at noon on Friday, Oct. 20.
Among the items available on the GoAugie.com auction will be an autographed Cincinnati Bengals jersey and picture from former Augustana player
Kevin Kaesviharn. In addition, there will be an autographed football from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback,
Carson Palmer.
Fans can also bid on several Viking football items. Three autographed Augustana Viking football jerseys will be available, as well as an autographed Augustana game day football.
In addition, "game day experience" items for the Augustana/USD football game will be included in the auction. One package is a pair of sideline passes, while another package is 2 "honorary captain" passes. The sideline pass package will allow 2 Viking fans to watch the game from the Viking sideline. Meanwhile, the honorary captains will join the Augustana and USD team captains and officials at midfield for the pre-game coin toss.
The auction on the USD athletics web site will feature jerseys and other memorabilia from former Coyote and current NFL players, USD jerseys, USD game balls, tickets for the New York Jets vs. Minnesota Vikings game on December 17 and "game day experience" packages.
USD also announced that a special "game day-only" silent auction will be held on the DakotaDome concourse during the Coyote-Viking game on Saturday, Oct. 21. The "game day-only" silent auction will begin when the gates open at 12:30 p.m. and will run through the end of halftime. Winners of all the auction be announced at the break of the end of the third quarter.
Also, a raffle for a pheasant hunt, which is being donated by Culhane Communications, will be another component of the fund-raising efforts. Tickets for the raffle will cost $5 apiece and will be available USD Ticket Office starting on Monday during normal office hourse (9 a.m. through 5 p.m.) or by calling the ticket office at (605) 677-5959. They will also be sold on the day of the game through halftime of the contest on Saturday. The pheasant hunt itself will take place near Irene, S.D.
Freidel suffered head trauma as well as injuries to his left eye and arm during an accident suffered this summer. He has spent five years at USD, including the past three as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, and prior to his arrival at USD spent 16 years at Augustana. He was the Vikings' defensive coordinator from 1996-2003. Freidel is currently at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., where he remains in treatment recovering from his accident.
Those who wish make donations independent of this fund-raising effort are encouraged to still do so. Checks should be made payable to the "Benefit Fund for Mike Freidel" and can be donated at any Wells Fargo location.
