Student Duke Club achieves record membership
SDC is one of JMU’s fastest growing clubs
By John Galle, sports editor
Posted on September 7, 2006

The Student Duke Club has been around since 2000 and is one of the fastest-growing organizations on campus. This year following Student Organization Night, the SDC has reached a record high of 1,259 members.

An increase in publicity and staged events has a lot to do with the increase in membership, blowing last year’s high of 926 members out of the water.

What’s changed? Well, for one thing, the board of executives this year are thinking bigger and have a strong passion for JMU sports, which they want to pass along to students.

“Obviously, when you win a national championship, it helps recruit new people, because they want to be a part of it,” SDC Vice President Michael Shockey said. “Right now we have an executive board that’s very dedicated. [They] love sports [and] love JMU and I think that makes a big difference, because they want to get out there and they want to recruit.”

According to Shockey, a large majority of their annual memberships are freshmen.

“Our organization is probably two-thirds [or] three-fourths freshmen,” Shockey said. “That’s just usually how it works out, just because freshmen are [more] involved. We’re having a tough time with retention and are working on ways to do that.”

However, Shockey also said that the SDC has seen an influx of upperclassmen signups this year in comparison to past years.
In the past, students signed up for the tailgate food or simply for the T-shirt. However, the Student Duke Club is now making a greater effort to be visible and show their members all the additional benefits that comes with their $25 donation.

The SDC has created a new Web site to do this. The site, purpleout.com, provides its members, along with interested non-members, with information on all of their benefits, upcoming events and even a downloadable membership form.

The SDC is putting together a bus trip to see the Dukes in action against the defending Division I-AA champion Appalachian State this weekend. For more information, call the ticket office at 568-DUKE or visit jmusports.com/sdc.

Membership cards, being distributed this year, have a number of discounts that can be used all year long, including Buffalo Wild Wings, Luigi’s and Gold Crown Billiards.

“We just got done printing [the membership cards] and they will be sent out in the mail to our members,” SDC faculty advisor J. Locklier said.

A new benefit for Duke Club members this year is getting into JMU football games early to avoid long student lines.
What’s even more important than fan perks, perhaps, is better sports teams to root for at JMU.

According to Shockey, 100 percent of the SDC membership proceeds go toward student-athlete scholarships.

“Last year, we were able to raise over $23,000 that went to athletic scholarships,” Shockey said. “And that’s a big difference maker as far as [coach] Mickey Matthews bringing in a couple of great players.”

Sponsors, which vary from year to year, support the SDC by paying for the tailgates, T-shirts, streamers and all other expenses. This allows the SDC to focus its efforts on recruiting members and rooting on the Dukes.

According to Shockey, their goal was to have 1,100 members. Already past their goal and still growing, the Dukes have created a $50,000 endowment that will give JMU an additional full student-athlete scholarship for next year.

“This year we’ve already raised over $31,000,” Locklier said. “That will allow them to begin another endowment and make a sizeable gift toward this year’s scholarship bill as well.”