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Catamount Club

Catamount Club Stories

The Catamount Club Blog is designed as a place to share stories about our incredible student-athletes, alumni and donors who are making a difference in their lives. We also update members on the details of our upcoming events through our blog.

WCU Alumni Mike Wade

Former Football Academic All-American Honors Mother, Stepmom with Gifts to Athletics, the Arts

Mike Wade, a former two-time Academic All-American at Western Carolina University, will tell you that football is the greatest metaphor for life: to survive you have to get back up every time you get knocked down — and you will get knocked down, he insists, many, many times. Wade did excel, so much so that he recently made a $1 million planned gift to support WCU’s athletics and arts scholarships and programs — one of the largest gifts given to the Catamount athletics program and one of the largest gifts ever by a former student-athlete.  

Soccer Alumni

Soccer Lovers Keep Kickin’ Long After Game is Over

It’s for the love of the game that former members of WCU’s men’s soccer team keep coming back to campus to see former teammates, play a little soccer and raise money for the WCU soccer program.   

Sigma Kappa Greek Challenge

Love for Cats keep Greeks coming back

It’s a family affair during WCU’s Greek Challenge each fall, when fraternities and sororities past and present compete to raise money for Catamount athletics. While the competition is a win for all student-athletes, only one fraternity and one sorority get to claim bragging rights when the fundraising totals are announced during Homecoming.  

Cat Club Logo

2019-2020 Benefits Restructure

On the heels of the most successful fundraising year in its history, a by-product of success and continued growth of the Catamount Club is a need to change and alter operations to manage expectations. Numerous changes were proposed through on-going discussions and were approved by the Board to take effect in the 2019-2020 membership benefit year.  

Jordan Strickland

Jordan Strickland: Ruling the Court

On the tennis court, Jordan Strickland is a focused, intense, yet level-headed player for Western Carolina University. Perhaps it’s because of the way Strickland approaches her life. At three days old, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis – a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time.  

Brinkley Weight Facility

Catamount Student-Athletes Benefit from Generosity of Alumni

David and Marie Brinkley believe in the Catamounts so much they donated $400,000 to improve the weight-lifting facility at Western Carolina University, their alma mater, which benefits all WCU athletes. Yes, they’ve been blessed with money, they say, but the joy is in helping others.  

Endye Wells

Soccer player finders her place on and off the field

During her four years on the soccer field at Western Carolina University, Endye Frazier showed the kind of growth coaches love to see. Off the field, her work with the Special Olympics displayed the type of compassion everyone should seek to have.  

Student-Athletes

Catamount Club Achieves & Succeeds '17-18 Scholarship Goal

The Catamount Club, Western Carolina Athletics’ fundraising arm, not only achieved but also exceeded its 2017-18 annual fund scholarship fundraising goal of $1.55 million to benefit Catamount student-athletes scholarships, finishing the fiscal year at $1.57 million.  

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