Pumping Iron and Raising Bucks: Annual Lift-A-Thon Boosts Chargers Football
Written by Doug Goodnough
If you build it, they will come.
A weight room is a necessity in today’s college football programs. In fact, it would be absurd to think that any college athletic program could compete without modern weight training equipment and facilities.
However, more than 40 years ago, it wasn’t always the case. For years, the Chargers trained with Nautilus machines, a Universal gym, a smattering of free weights, and a single bench press.
When Dick Lowry took over as Hillsdale College’s football coach after the 1979 season, one of his first duties was to emphasize strength and conditioning. Relying on a youthful defensive assistant coach named Dave Dye to develop the strength program, the Chargers installed a functional weight room above the women’s locker rooms in the south gym of Stock’s Fieldhouse. And to help furnish the new facility, the team started a fundraiser called the Lift-A-Thon.
“We needed the money for new equipment in the weight room,” said Pat Gregory, ’80, who participated in what now has become a mainstay for Charger Football. “I was honored to be a part of the first event.”
Not only was he a part of it, but he ended up having the top performance for two consecutive years. In 1981, he put up an impressive 425 pounds on the bench press.
The team raised more than $10,000 during the inaugural event to help purchase much-needed training equipment. Former All-American offensive lineman Mike Broome, ’82, said it was a turning point for the program.
“Before they arrived, we didn’t have a weight room,” Broome said of Lowry and Dye. “As I recall, Coach Dye took the lead in emphasizing weightlifting and off-season conditioning. (The new weight room) was basic by today’s standards, but was a huge step up from where we were. There were enough bench presses and squat racks to allow the team to rotate through.”
The results quickly showed on the field. After a 3-8 campaign in 1979, the Chargers rebounded with a 7-3 record and a conference championship in 1980. In fact, Hillsdale didn’t have a losing season in the next decade, winning five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and claiming an NAIA national championship in 1985.
Broome, whose son, Nicholas, is a junior-to-be linebacker on the current Charger football team, said the Lift-A-Thon became more than just a fundraiser.
“It was a chance for the guys to demonstrate how their work in the weight room had paid off,” Broome said. “I must admit that my own performance wasn’t near the top. I had several shoulder surgeries that didn’t help in that effort. In fact, I still get teased by some of my former teammates about my lifting abilities.”
This year, the Chargers will conduct the 43rd annual Lift-A-Thon at 7 p.m. on March 9 in the JAM Weight Room in the Roche Sports Complex. The event now is livestreamed so former Chargers and supporters can watch the action regardless of their location. To contribute to the Lift-A-Thon—which last year raised more than $65,000 for the program—visit www.hillsdale.edu/liftathon2023.
Broome called the Lift-A-Thon “the culmination of a significant shift in the history of Charger football.”
“It was a great group of guys with great results starting a great tradition,” Gregory said. “I’m glad to see it’s continued all these years.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in January 2023