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Letterman Club
March 6, 2023
W
hen you think about sports funding at Kennedy, often your mind will wander to student athletes’ parents. Those who work concessions during basketball games, volunteer at Kingston Stadium during football season and time races for track events. While parents may be large contributors now, when the school opened in 1967 the responsibility of fundraising fell to the varsity student-athletes.
Letterman Club, later called K-Club, was a program run by the first athletic director at Kennedy, Don Shupe. It was an opportunity for athletes with a varsity letter to raise money for their activity. The volunteer work ranged from holding fundraisers to more of what we see from parents today.
“We wanted to provide service to Kennedy,” 1972 club president Randy Krejci said. “We really tried to raise money because the school district didn’t have enough for all of us.”
The club ended after Shupe left the school and parents took over, forming what we know to be the Booster Club.
“When athletic directors changed the club just kind of died out,” Krejci said. “It’s sad because it was something we really enjoyed and it really helped all of our programs.”
Having any sort of Letterman Club be reinstated is up to the athletes at Kennedy today and the current athletic director Aaron Stecker. If it were to return and continue to raise money, who’s to say expensive sports like competitive gymnastics couldn’t make a comeback at Kennedy?
