Keough Hall and Welsh Family Hall defended their title as champions of RecSports' Late Night Olympics on Saturday, an event which raised just over $4,500 for St. Joseph's County Special Olympics, according to John Beven, Facilities and Student Development Intern for RecSports.
Beven said that the $4,599.62 raised does not include the donations made at the door and T-shirt sales, so the amount raised will likely increase once that money is added.
Beven said that the highlight of the night was when "the Special Olympians trounced the Athletic Department and Rectors in the basketball game."
"Fr. Pete McCormick, [rector] of Keough Hall, was the one bright spot of Notre Dame's basketball team, but turnovers, poor teamwork, and tempers did their team in," Beven said.
McCormick said that his favorite part of the night was "playing against the Olympians and seeing ... the excitement and energy they had during the game."
"You could just tell that they were so excited to be there playing the game and the student body was so supportive of them," he said. "It was just a great moment to see."
Another memorable moment of the night was when "former Irish basketball standout Harold Swanagan was thrown out of the game after doing his best Bob Knight impression when he threw a chair onto the court after a call did not go his way," Beven said.
"It was certainly in jest and the crowd got a big kick out of it," said McCormick.
Keough-Welsh Family had a total of 2,445.62 points, leading the next best team, Duncan-O'Neill-McGlinn, by over one thousand points. The Keenan-Alumni-Lewis team came in third place, Beven said.
Senior Rusty Podbelski, who organized Keough's Late Night Olympics team, said that a high demand for spots on the teams and high participation in Penny Wars were two key reasons for success.
"We've kind of had a history of doing well in this event. It's something that people around the dorm really look forward to," Podbeski said. "There's always a lot of demand to even get on the rosters for each sport. I think that really helps out because then you are able to make rosters full of people who are talented at their sport instead of trying to fill it up with just a warm body."
Of the dollar amount raised in pennies, 25 percent was added to the overall points. On top of that, the team that won Penny Wars received an additional 150 bonus points, Beven said.
"The penny war is a big part of scoring. Every year we've really come through with a mind boggling number of coins and I think this year that happened again," Podbeski said, who said that for a week prior to Late Night Olympics jars were put outside of Resident Assistants' doors for people to donate money.
"Overall, it was a great night. The Notre Dame students came together for a great cause and really showed their support for the St. Joseph County Special Olympics," Beven said.
