Five WSU students and a former Seahawks player have come together to bowl for charity.

The group of five Washington State University sports management students collaborated with former Seahawks cornerback and WSU alumnus Marcus Trufant to organize the Inaugural Trufant Family Foundation Strikes for Scholarships event on April 19 at Zeppoz Bowling Alley.

The Strikes for Scholarships Bowling and Silent Auction will raise money to directly fund a WSU scholarship and raise awareness of the Trufant Family Foundation.

Robert Willoughby, junior and group member, said Trufant’s influence on him as a child made this project empowering.

“Coming out of state, my favorite Cougar as a kid was Marcus Trufant,” Willoughby said. “To get the opportunity to work with him and help him out was big for me and helped me get really excited about this project.”

Anyone can register to bowl, participate in the silent auction, and meet Trufant.

Originally, the students’ assignment was to apply what they learned throughout the semester to create a charity event from scratch for a final class project, but the students’ commitment soon grew beyond that.

“It was hard in communicating to both the charity and our sponsors that we are deeply committed to this cause and that this is not just some class project we’re doing just to get an ‘A,’” Willoughby said. “We want to make a significant contribution to children in the future.”

After narrowing a list down to 15 charities of interest, choosing the Trufant Family Foundation, and reaching out to Trufant via Twitter, the Strikes for Scholarships event became a reality.

“The Trufant Family Foundation has never done anything over on this side of the mountains,” said Patrick Winter, senior and one of the students behind the effort. “So when this class project came about we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the Trufant Family Foundation to the Pullman community.”

The Trufant Family Foundation exists to improve community programs and offer college scholarships to disadvantaged youth and their families.

Trufant and his family started the foundation to encourage youth in the greater Seattle area and give back to those who supported Trufant while he played for the Seahawks.

Robbie Campbell, senior and other group member, said after conducting a survey to choose which organization they wanted to support, only 40 percent of people knew about the foundation. 

The sports management department has hosted a bowling event almost every year in the past, but the group wanted to make it bigger and better than ever before by channeling the money to the Trufant Family Foundation, Winter said.

“We realize this is a great entry point for the foundation because we want this to be a yearly thing,” Winter said. “You only get one shot to make it happen.”

So far, there are 40 bowlers signed up out of 66 bowlers total, and the event has raised about $1,000 in donations.

The group’s realistic financial goal is to raise $3,500, but their ideal goal is $5,000.

Winter said the most important misison is to spread the name of the foundation.

“This is not just about sports or Marcus. It’s about an education,” Willoughby said. “We really want to emphasize that.”

Campbell said the whole group was confident they’d made the right choice choosing the Trufant Family Foundation.

“Ultimately, we all decided and all knew the Trufant Family Foundation was the one because it was unique, and that’s where it really separated itself from other charities,” Campbell said.