The on-court success of the Penn State's men's basketball team's season is yet to be determined, but they are certainly winning off of the court.
Every member of the Penn State squad, including the managers, is geared up to make a difference in the community.
The players and coaches have already been doing their part by hosting Thon Dodgeball for the second consecutive year and helping their coaches' efforts with Coaches vs. Cancer.
But this season, the managers wanted to make a difference off the court as well. This will be the first year the men's basketball managers will be participating in Managers vs. Cancer.
Head manager Lucas Mariano said Managers vs. Cancer follows in the footsteps of Coaches vs. Cancer, in which Penn State is involved. Managers vs. Cancer raises awareness and money for the American Cancer Society.
Mariano said the managers are looking forward to making a difference and being involved with the organization.
"It is a great opportunity to be a part of a good first class organization," Mariano said.
Penn State is one of 38 Division I schools and one of four Big Ten schools that participate. According to Mariano, the goal is for every Division I school to participate.
This group is making a splash in its first year with the program. In addition to the traditional auctions, the managers are hosting a fundraising event. All proceeds will go to Managers vs. Cancer.
The managers will be hosting a three-on-three basketball tournament on Nov. 8. According to assistant manager Jimmy Bowen, this is the first ever event dedicated solely to the organization.
Penn State's managers are not going to stop at hosting the event. With the hopes of the event expanding to other member schools, Mariano said the managers will create a business outline of the event for other schools to model.
Mariano said managers often go unnoticed, and they are taking this opportunity to give back to the community in addition to all the hard work they put in each day for the basketball team.
"Managers are sort of a faceless image. We want to positively impact the image of Penn State basketball by being involved and doing as much as we can," he said. "I think it's a lot of fun. All the way around, it's a winning situation for everybody."
Bowen is excited about the opportunity to participate in the organization, he said. He feels this organization has the opportunity to grow and he wants to be part of something special.
The slogan of Penn State's chapter, created by Bowen, is "Be the difference."
The managers also take this as an opportunity to show head coach Ed DeChellis that they respect his efforts and struggles. Coach DeChellis is a cancer survivor himself, and is also very involved in Coaches vs. Cancer. He is a former winner of the organization's man of the year award.
Bowen said his respect for DeChellis makes a difference in wanting to help with the fight against cancer.
"You kind of get the feel for it the more you're around it," Bowen said.
The efforts of the managers have not gone unnoticed to DeChellis. He said he has a great group of managers who aren't content with just doing their on-court duties. They want to make a difference and positively impact Penn State basketball.
DeChellis would not take credit for this group's generosity saying they took this project upon themselves.
"It says a lot about them as a group," DeChellis said. "I'm proud of our managers for joining in to fight the cause. [They are] good guys trying to do what they can."
