The University of Akron Athletics
Read the Latest Edition of Zips Line – October 31, 2014
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IN MEMORY ...
As you may have heard by now, it's been an emotional week here for Zips Athletics, and particularly our Men's Basketball program, as we learned Monday that Dan Peters passed away after his 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
"Pete" was such a wonderful friend to all of us who were lucky to know him. As our Men's Basketball Director of Operations for the last five years – and someone who coached for 30-plus years, including tenures at top-10 programs in Ohio State and Cincinnati – he lent tremendous perspective and experience to our team, including Coach Dambrot, and was a compassionate mentor for our student-athletes. The team has decided to dedicate this season "4 Pete's Sake".
Please keep the Peters family – including his wife, Nancy, and their sons Michael and Danny – in your thoughts and prayers. Information about services is available here.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME (TUESDAY NIGHT) FOOTBALL ...
... it's Time to Shine on national television at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, when Football hosts Bowling Green in a pivotal MAC East Showdown on ESPN2 that could very well determine who represent the East Division in the MAC Championship game.
Everyone coming to InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field is encouraged to wear black, as it's a #ZipsBlackout. As part of the #ZipsBlackout, the first 5,000 fans will receive a long-sleeve black t-shirts that can be personalized on the back with their own Twitter handle. Thanks to our friends at Coca-Cola for helping underwrite these great giveaways, which members of our team have been modeling on campus this week.
With a midweek game, we wanted to draw as many students as possible to the game, and that's why we're giving away four 2015 spring semester tuition scholarships at this game. Three of these will be based on attending the game, and one is tied to a Social Media Challenge in advance of the game. Please visit this page for links to the official rules.
It's a busy day all afternoon on campus for us (as is any weekday with classes and practices), but we'll get things going at 4 p.m. in Tommy Evans Lounge in Rhodes Arena with our annual Basketball Media Day. This event is open for Z-Fund donors and season ticketholders to attend and ask questions, and anyone else can participate by tweeting a question for Coaches Dambrot and Kest in advance to @AkronZips. We'll have a live web stream available, and Basketball Media Day also will be carried live on Sports Radio 1350 AM (WARF), as well as the iHeart Radio and TuneIn apps. Our Men's team was picked as the preseason favorite in the East, and the Women were selected to finish third.
At 5:30 p.m. at Zips Fest on Vine Street, you can find Zippy's Second Annual Great Chili Cook Off, an event that University Dining Services and Athletics are co-hosting once again as part of UA's fundraising campaign for United Way of Summit County. Tickets to the Cook Off will be sold at the tent, and there's a discounted rate for UA students with a valid Zip Card, as well as for those who already have game tickets.
ON THE ROAD THIS WEEKEND ...
Safe travels to all of our teams competing away from campus this weekend, including:
... Men's and Women's Cross Country, which will be at Central Michigan tomorrow for the 2014 MAC Championships – last year we finished second in the Men and eighth in the Women, and both squads return a lot of veteran runners ...
... Volleyball heads west for rematches with Bowling Green today and Miami (Ohio) tomorrow ...
... Women's Tennis travels to West Virginia for the Martha Thorn Invitational today and tomorrow ...
... Women's Swimming and Diving heads to Eastern Michigan today and Ball State tomorrow ...
CONGRATS TO ...
... Zips legend Steve Zakuani, who announced his retirement from professional soccer ...
... Zakuani's former team, our Men's Soccer program, dominated Cleveland State, 5-0, at home on Tuesday ...
... junior swimmer Erin Seiler, named our Student-Athlete of the Week after two individual victories, as well as part of the first-place 200 medley relay, against Buffalo last week in the team's first dual meet ...
ZIPS CLIPS ...
... this week's edition of Z360, which previews the MAC Cross Country championship, baseball's Halloween charity softball game in honor of a special guest, and an etiquette class our football team attended ...
... our weekly video recap of Zips Weekly ...
... I had the opportunity to speak at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Club on Monday ...
... USA Today asks Coach Dambrot what LeBron James' return to Cleveland means for Akron ... and Terry Pluto asks him what it means for LeBron to win it all in northeast Ohio ...
... tributes to Coach Peters, including from The Sporting News, Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Canton Repository, Youngstown Vindicator – including the comment from Bob Huggins: "One of the great people in our business."
ASK THE AD
As always, if you have a question or want to comment about Zips Athletics, click here now or at any time on the "Ask the AD" button on the home page of GoZips.com.
Go Zips!
Tom Wistrcill
Director of Athletics
