Help 'Fill the Gym' for Bulldogs
SANDPOINT - The Bulldog hoopsters will be providing the action, Litehouse will be providing the incentive, and now the onus falls on the community and fans of Sandpoint High School to help make tonight's first-ever "Fill the Gym" event against 4A rival Lakeland a complete success.
If Sandpoint Fire Chief Robert Tyler declares the bleachers at Les Rogers Court are filled to capacity tonight, all 1,700 fans in attendance will receive a coupon for a free jar of the Litehouse salad dressing of their choice, to be picked up at the Litehouse Bleu Cheese Factory store in Sandpoint.
The event is the brainchild of Bill Hawkins, COO of Litehouse Foods, whose goal is simply to boost community attendance at the games while helping support the local youth. He's a member of Bulldog Bench, and played football, basketball and baseball when he attended SHS.
"Our goal at Litehouse in sponsoring this event is to create school spirit in the community, instead of just within those who have kids in the system," said Hawkins, while also thanking Nancy Miller and the SHS Pep Club for taking on the task of cutting up 1,700 coupons for the event. "We want to make it a community event. Anything we can do to put people in the seats."
Edward and Doug Hawkins, the founders of Litehouse, both played sports at SHS back in the day. Throughout the years, as a host of other Hawkins have donned the red and white, the family has steadfastly continued its staunch support of Bulldog athletics.
"A lot of it stems from the owners playing sports in Sandpoint; they've always been active in sports," said Litehouse president Jim Frank. "Bill mentioned the idea, I said 'that sounds cool,' and it came to fruition."
A respectable - although far from full - crowd watched the Sandpoint boys nearly upset Coeur d'Alene last week. Tonight's game against Lakeland marks the first time this season the two boys teams will meet, and could go a long way towards giving the winner an early edge in the quest for the 4A North's lone state berth.
The Bulldog girls team has had an uphill battle while competing with a very young team in the toughest league in Idaho. They've made steady improvement, and should get a chance to see just how much when they face Lakeland for the second time this season, having lost by 21 to the Hawks earlier in the year.
"It would be great if the community gets out and supports local sports," said Frank, noting the free dressing essentially offsets the actual cost of attending. "What else can you do for a couple bucks on a Tuesday night?"
The JV boys will get the event started tonight at 4:15 p.m., followed by the varsity girls at 6, with the varsity boys tipping it off at 7:30 p.m.
Both Bulldog Bench and Litehouse are hoping this is merely the first of what becomes an annual event.