Influential community leaders Mac Everett, Johnny Harris and Gene Johnson will lead the Charlotte 49ers Football Fundraising Capital Campaign, the university announced at a press conference on February 10.
The powerful team also includes a trio of UNC Charlotte alumni who are chief financial officers at threeFortune 500corporations.
Everett, who is general chairman of the PGA's Wachovia Championship anda member of the advisory board for the Belk College's M.B.A. in Sports Marketing and Management,will be an honorary chair the of committee along withHarris, president of Lincoln Harris, a commercial real estate firm.
Johnson, chairman and CEO of FairPoint Communications and a 1973 graduate of the Belk College of Business, was named chairman.
In addition, the 49ers introduced three other UNC Charlotte alumni as executive chairs: David Hauser, chief financial officer for Duke Energy Corporation; Bob Hull, chief financial officer for Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; and Joe Price, chief financial officer for Bank of America Corporation. All three are graduates of the Belk College of Business.
Former Carolina Panthers standouts Mike Minter and Mike Rucker have signed on as campaign ambassadors.
“We have a great opportunity to make history,” said UNC Charlotte Chancellor Dr. Phil Dubois. “We have an opportunity to bring our campus and our community together like never before. We have assembled a leadership team that combines an array of community and business leaders and influential alumni.”
Everett and Harris have played major roles in Charlotte’s sports landscape for many years. Everett has been involved with the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission and the Charlotte Bobcats as well as the Wachovia Championship. Harris, a member of the Carolina Panthers ownership group and president of Quail Hollow Club, played a key role in founding the Wachovia Championship and landing the ACC football championship and 1994 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in Charlotte.
Johnson, secretary of the university’s Board of Trustees, has been a staunch supporter of the 49ers athletic department for over 30 years. A tireless advocate for UNC Charlotte, Johnson has served on the Belk College of Business Advisory Council, the Alumni Board of Governors and the Board of Directors of the 49ers Athletic Foundation. He was inducted into the UNC Charlotte Alumni Hall of Fame in 1997 and was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2000.
“Everybody’s in the game,” said 49ers Director of Athletics Judy Rose. “We understand that adding football will impact more than the 49ers athletic department and more than UNC Charlotte. This is about Charlotte -- and it will take the vision and support of departmental, university and community leaders to insure success. This is just the beginning, but history is in the air.”
After nearly two years of study and research, Chancellor Dubois made his recommendation to add football to the university Board of Trusteeslast September.The Board of Trustees passed the recommendation without opposition in November.The Charlotte 49ers expect to field a football team in 2013.