Showing some love
Roady’s Truck Stops treat Humanitarian Bowl brass to a day at Scotch Pines Golf Course
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Sunday, June 14, 2009 1:24 AM PDT
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| Scott Ford | Argus Observer Members of the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl enjoyed a day at Scotch Pines Golf Course in Payette to build relationships and begin the early stages of planning the 2009 bowl game which will be played at Boise State University in late December.
Top brass from the various different entities were on hand to enjoy the day. Pictured above Scott Moscrip, (from left), Rich Urresti, Karl Benson, Kelly Rhinehart, Kevin McDonald and Gene Bleymaier. |
Payette-It was not an official, “Let’s talk about the bowl game,” day for all the individuals involved with the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, but more of a day where folks can build stronger bonds, bring more interest to this side of the Treasure Valley, and, oh yeah, to do a little bragging about driving distance and handicaps.
On hand for the gala was Karl Benson, commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, Gene Bleymaier , athletic director at Boise State, Kevin McDonald Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl executive director, Scott Moscrip, co-owner of Roady’s Truck stops, Kelly Rhinehart, co-owner of Roady’s Truck stops and many other individuals who play an important role in the success of the Bowl game played on the blue turf.
“Today is about cultivating relationships with board members and Roady’s,” Benson said. “Roady’s is a terrific sponsor.”
Benson said the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl is the premier bowl for the WAC and it has developed a great reputation over the years with teams from back east competing in it.
“The Humanitarian Bowl staff does a great job preparing for this bowl each year. Kevin McDonald, the executive director, puts in 360-plus days a year for this one-day event,” Benson said.
The WAC athletic commissioner said even when Boise State is not playing in the bowl game, there is still 20,000 plus college football fans from the Treasure Valley that come to the game.
As for Benson’s day at Scotch Pines Golf Course, he said, “I got to play golf with the big boss Kelly Rhinehart and it has been fun.”
Heading up the day of golf and the luncheon was Mike Knee of Roady’s Truck Stop, and he said the event was important in building relationships and moreover, promoting the bowl to this end of the Treasure Valley.
Executive bowl director McDonald said the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl has become a fixture in the Valley and it creates an economic impact for the region in addition to bringing in interesting matchups on the gridiron.
“The bowl is moving into a new phase with our agreement with the Mountain West Conference, which will promote interesting regional matchups,” McDonald said.
McDonald added when the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl first started 13 years ago there were only 23 or 24 bowls so getting teams from the east coast was not hard because those teams were looking for a bowl to play in.
As for this year’s bowl game, McDonald said he is pursuing a different course for the bowl week which will involve the public more.
“One of our biggest pushes this year is to get more fan involvement,” McDonald said. “When the teams come in we have activities for them, but it has not included the fans. So, one of the things we are hoping to do during bowl week is bring in some music, a concert and some music festival things. Another thing we are looking into is a winter festival concept.”
McDonald said Roady’s has done a great job at getting more people in the Valley involved with the bowl.
“We are having a great time today here at the Scotch Pines, and we have been cementing relationships,” McDonald said.
When asked about what matchup in the past McDonald would have liked to have seen, he added the possible matchup between Boise State and Ball State really excited him last year.
“That was a matchup we were hoping to make happen,” the director said. “That would have been like the non-BCS, BCS bowl game, but it just didn’t quite happen.”
He said for this year’s bowl game, the bowl committee is looking forward to having a Mountain West Conference team competing in the Roady’s Humanitarain Bowl. The MWC consists of Utah, BYU, TCU, Colorado State, New Mexico, Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV and San Diego State.
Coming to Payette and getting to play at Scotch Pines Golf Course was something McDonald said he enjoyed.
“Its a beautiful golf course, the people are terrific and its really been one of those things that has opened the valley for me,” McDonald said.
Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier was also on hand and said having the bowl game played at BSU has many positives that go with it.
“It’s great for our community, it’s great for our conference and it’s great for Boise State University,” Bleymaier said. “The visibility that this bowl has nationally and the tradition that it has built has been significant and it is great to be part of the bowl season here in Boise.”
Bleymaier said he likes it when the Broncos play in this bowl game, but added when they travel to other bowl games it is also a plus for BSU.
“I like it when we play here because it is our stadium and we will have our crowd there,” he said. “But when we play in other bowls it is good for the our players to get that experience.”
Having the Atlantic Coast Conference teams and other big conference teams playing on the blue turf is a plus for the community Bleymaier said.
“The variety is very good with the teams they have had competing in this bowl,” Bleymaier said. “Today has been a lot of fun, we’re having a ball.”
Roady’s Truck Stop has been the primary sponsor for the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl for the past three years, and, truck stop co-owner Kelly Rhinehart said being the primary sponsor has been a great thing for his company.
However, the opportunity almost didn’t happen.
Rhinehart said Roady’s Truck Stop was on the verge of signing with NASCAR when they heard about the opportunity to become the primary sponsor for a bowl game. Rhinehart said they requested the paperwork on the deal, they looked it over and changed their minds and jumped on board with the bowl game.
In addition to the round of golf, those present also were treated to a lunch.
