Huskie athletics is a big part of life in DeKalb and support from students and the community is very important.

One way that anyone can contribute to NIU athletics is through the Huskie Athletic Scholarship Fund. At niuhuskies.com, anyone can help the 17 athletic programs by bidding and at the same time acquiring exclusive Huskie items for their own enjoyment. The online auctions raise unrestricted funds for the HASF.

“We raise money through October to then divide between our 17 sports programs for the coaches to use for the student athletes, whether it be for recruiting or for travel or for a spring break trip or just any of their needs to go into their budget,” said Associate Director of Development Matt Mattmiller. “The auctions go right into the HASF.”

Since the beginning of October, the auctions have been providing a variety of items and it has been successful.

“All of our items generally get bid on and we’ve raised a lot of money,” Mattmiller said. “We’ve gotten a lot of people involved with Huskie athletics that have never been involved.”

Past items range from autographed footballs, basketballs, and jerseys by coaches and players to different experiences. The VIP football experience included running out onto the field with the team and sideline passes for the game. During this past season, there were two auctions for the Bowling Green and the Navy game.

“Right now we’re kind of in a slow period and we only have two items up,” Mattmiller said. “We’ve already done a lot of our major, major items.”

The two current items that are available on the Website are Independence Bowl drinking glasses and a private golf lesson with women’s golf coach Pam Tyska. However, both auctions will be ending today at 4 p.m.

The online auction may be slow at this point, but that will change as the spring season begins.

“We’re always going to try to do things that are in season so as the spring sports roll around we’re probably going to some baseball type items or experiences,” Mattmiller said. “As summer rolls around we might do some golf related things as well and more experiences.”

Sometimes vintage items go up for auction, such as a framed picture of the final scoreboard of the football game at Alabama from 2003.

The HASF plans to continue these auctions through summer and into next fall when football items and experiences are available again.

Next Saturday, Jan. 31, the HASF will be hosting its 2009 Spring Drive Kick-Off at the Convocation Center. The event will begin around 3 p.m. after the conclusion of the women’s basketball game.