TERRE HAUTE — A gesture of good sportsmanship is going viral for all the right reasons.
This weekend, Indiana State University's Baseball team is set to play in the NCAA Super Regionals in postseason play.
The Trees were set to have home field advantage at Bob Warn Field in Terre Haute.
But earlier this week, the ISU Athletic Department put out a statement saying the university would have to pass on that opportunity and allow the Sycamores to travel to their opponent in Fort Worth Texas, instead, citing prior commitments to hosting the Summer Games on campus for Special Olympics Indiana.
The statement read, in part, "There are a variety of factors that come into play with the competition for resources and staff. With the potential for multiple large-scale events occurring in the area simultaneously and due to NCAA limitations on hotel distance from the field, there is a lack of hotel space to handle the accommodations required to house the visiting team., the support staff for the games, and the ESPN production crew that would be in attendance."
With many Sycamore fans tweeting their disappointment in the arrangement, one TCU Horned Frog fan podcast account tweeted out something unexpected.
The Lupton Drinking Club, which is a TCU sports talk show from the bar-top type of podcast, tweeted and asked fans to join them in donating to Special Olympics Indiana with a link to the organization's website.
Special Olympics Indiana is the local branch of the bigger Special Olympics organization serving Hoosier athletes with intellectual disabilities, allowing them to showcase their skills and abilities in a variety of sports competitions.
The Summer Games, which takes place this weekend in Terre Haute at both ISU and Rose Hulman campuses is their largest sports competition of the year for Special Olympics Indiana.
This weekend, 2,100 athletes plus their supporters and fans with descend on Terre Haute to compete for seven different state championships.
The Lupton Drinking Club tweet went viral.
So far the organization reports this week they received more than $35,000 in donations from 37 different states, 656 individuals and several company matching donations.
WRTV spoke with Jeff Mohler, the President and CEO of Special Olympics Indiana, about what this unexpected donation means to the local organization.
"The exciting thing about this is it shows sports in a positive light. I think too much, too often, we look at sports and we see bad sportsmanship and that's what we focus on. This is a good story. This is what sports can be," Mohler said. "Yes we want to be competitive, yes we keep score. the scoreboards are on. But more importantly, sports can show all of us. who we truly are, and show each other avenues to meet new people and make new friendships."
Mohler says before this week, he had no ties to the TCU Horned Frogs. He says while he obviously will be cheering on the hometown team in the Super Regionals, it is a win-win because he has a new-found respect and appreciation for their opponent and the fans for what they did to support Hoosier athletes in Special Olympics.
"This is the best thing to add to a great weekend already," Mohler said.
Mohler says in addition to providing opportunities to play for athletes with intellectual disabilities, the organization helps the participants learn about themselves and each other, and gives them life skills that can transfer to all aspects of life.
He says it also shows the community what these individuals can do and he hopes this campaign by the TCU podcast helps shine a light on Special Olympics across the country.
WRTV asked Mohler what the organization plans to do with this additional funding and he says since it wasn't in their original budget, he says organizers will find somewhere to put the funding to good use, maybe creating additional programming for participants that they were unable to do before the additional funds came through.
The TCU Athletic Department also announced plans to donate $1 per every concession items sold this weekend to Special Olympics Indiana.
The Summer Games begins at noon on Friday in Terre Haute with the Opening Ceremonies starting at 7 p.m. at the Hulman Center.
Competition continues Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then wraps up on Sunday between 8 a.m. and noon.
Mohler says they could still use volunteers and they will train any volunteers on the spot.
If you would like to support Special Olympics Indiana, you can check them out online by visiting
