The white house at the cross streets of Hanna Ave. and State St. across from Key Stadium is home to the Greyhound Club. The club plays a crucial role in financially supporting the University of Indianapolis athletics by assisting in the renovation of existing facilities and purchasing necessary equipment.
The organization started in 1997, when the Varsity Club and Greyhound Club merged to combine efforts for the betterment of UIndy’s athletic program.
The Greyhound Club helps support all 23 athletic programs through its fundraising efforts. The budget helps provide for athletic needs including travel, equipment, improvements to athletic facilities and added tournaments that conference play sometimes does not completely support.
Associate Director of Athletics Matt Donovan helps lead many of the club’s operations. This is Donovan’s 23rd year at UIndy. He said he strives to continue making efforts to ensure the athletic programs and athletes have the best opportunities to succeed.
“It [the Greyhound Club] is a big part of basically providing the resources to make the student athletes’ experience here at UIndy the best it possibly could be,” Donovan said. “You have more programs now [compared to when he started] and before we didn’t have the ARC, the tennis dome and the football field was grass with no lights. 1997 was the first year we were chartered and at the end of the year we had 33 donors.”
The Greyhound Club now has expanded to roughly 1,300 donors. Donovan said he believes alumni coming back and seeing all the facility and equipment improvements the Greyhound Club has provided is a big factor in getting alumni to donate. Parents and other relatives of athletes also make contributions based on the work of the club to better their athlete’s experience.
Assistant Director of Athletics Gina Dacy works alongside Donovan in helping with the events put on by the Greyhound Club. Part of her role involves preparing for events and communicating with alumni to keep them engaged in the university. Dacy attended Loras College where she played lacrosse and acknowledged a lot of advantages the Greyhound Club provides compared to what she received while playing.
“I played lacrosse when I was in school and we were provided with sticks, but a lot of other things like warm up gear and practice uniforms we had to pay for ourselves,” Dacy said. “Coming from that situations where we would have to write checks at the beginning of the season to cover equipment and other things like our spring break trip kind of helped me realize that I didn’t want other athletes to have to do that.”
Dacy and Donovan work closely in the Greyhound Club operations. Dacy has been in this position for just over a year and said she has seen all the hard work that goes into the organization in trying to provide the best experiences for student athletes.
Two former UIndy student athletes, Ralph Davis and Rich Reasoner are also key figures behind the success of the Greyhound Club. Davis, who is 97 years old, still comes to work part time every week. His main focus is working with alumni coach awards and other similar aspects.
“I think those three [Donovan, Davis and Reasoner] are the heart and soul of the Greyhound Club,” Dacy said. “Matt [Donovan] knows everyone and their story and it’s great how active the other two still are and I think that’s why the Greyhound Club has seen some of the success that it has had.”
The club emphasizes that every gift, no matter the amount brings them closer to properly funding the athletic programs that benefit UIndy student athletes. These donations are important in the tradition of the UIndy Athletics to provide the student athletes with competitive facilities, support services and equipment needed to compete at the highest level. Anyone can join the Greyhound Club whether they attended UIndy or not. For more information regarding the Greyhound Club visit athletics.uindy.edu and click on the Greyhound Club tab from the drop down menu.
