Houchens Industries Makes
Donation To Sweet 16 Committee
September 28, 2004
Bowling Green, Ky. - The team that plays a key role in the girls' state basketball tournament got a $25,000 boost from Houchens Industries on Tuesday morning.
Houchens, the tournament's title sponsor, presented a check to the Girls Sweet 16 Organizing Committee during a ceremony at Western Kentucky University's Diddle Arena.
"We are very pleased to be associated with an event of this caliber," said Shannon Hendrick, marketing coordinator for Houchens Industries.
While the Sweet 16 is played on the WKU campus, the tournament is a community event that requires teamwork and cooperation from numerous groups, said Jeff Younglove, director of Campus and Community Events.
About a quarter million people have attended the tournament in the 11 times Bowling Green has hosted it since 1985, Younglove said.
Gary West, executive director of the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Girls' Sweet 16 has become a marquee event thanks to the support of Houchens Industries and the community.
Houchens' support, West said, extends beyond Bowling Green and into communities served by the company across Kentucky. "We look forward to a continued relationship with the Houchens' Sweet 16," he said.
The tournament is a key recruitment tool as students and families visit the campus, said Luther Hughes, associate vice president for Enrollment Management. "This is an important partnership for the academic side of Western," he said.
Lady Topper coach Mary Taylor Cowles played at Diddle Arena in the Girls' Sweet 16 three times in 1985-87. "The memories and love I have for Western Kentucky University was founded here through our participation with Marshall County High School," she said.
Competing at Diddle Arena "started the love and the passion I have for this university," she said.
The 2005 girls' state tournament is scheduled for March 23-26.
For more information, contact Special Events at (270) 745-2497. More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
