UM officials pleased with ‘suppah’

Paul Vom Eigen was among the last people to purchase a ticket for Sunday night’s Super Suppah at the University of Maine, where more than 100 supporters of Black Bear athletics gathered at the Wells Conference Center.

Vom Eigen and wife Nikki Pratt of Hampden, who bought their ticket at a recent men’s hockey game, got their money’s worth – a delicious meal, good company and the $10,000 grand prize.

The event, sponsored by the Black Bear Board of Advisors, raised $16,000 for the Black Bear Scholarship Fund.

“We’re very pleased,” said Joe Roberts, UMaine’s athletic development director. “We had a great committee working on it.”

The dinner was co-hosted by Maine humorist Tim Sample and master chef Cheryl Wixson, who also co-host the show “What’s for Suppah” on PBS. Guests dined on a main course of duck or salmon.

“I was impressed by the people in the community who were more than willing to give $275 [per couple] to take a chance at winning the $10,000 and know they could come away with nothing.”

Still, Roberts was quick to point out many patrons also knew the money was being used for a good cause, the Black Bear Scholarship Fund.

The Black Bear Board of Advisors, which is made up of community members and leaders from UMaine’s booster organizations, exists to assist with fundraising for UMaine athletics. It sold all 100 tickets for the event, during which more than $23,000 in prizes donated by area businesses were awarded to 73 participants.

Barb Brown Dalton, the vice president of the BBBOA’s Super Suppah committee, was one of the primary organizers of the event and thus was instrumental in it’s success, according to Roberts.

Business leaders also stepped up to the plate.

“Rick O’Connor [of UNICEL] stepped forward and underwrote the cost of our entertainment early on in the planning process,” explained Roberts, who said that helped the supper’s planning committee get the ball rolling on the project.

Roberts said UMaine athletics “stole” the Super Suppah idea from the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, which elected not to hold a similar event of its own this year and even lent UMaine some of its props.

Among the items raffled off was a trip for two to Las Vegas, courtesy of Bangor Travel, which netted more than $1,000. G.M. Pollack and Sons jewelers donated a $1,000 diamond ring and several companies provided food items to reduce the cost of the meal.

A silent auction that included numerous autographed UMaine items generated more than $1,800. UMaine’s head coaches also were “auctioned off” and sat at tables with the highest bidders for their company during the evening.

“I think there’s a very good chance we’ll do it again,” Roberts said.

UMaine women keep rolling

The UMaine women’s basketball team returned to practice at Memorial Gym in Orono on Monday night after running their winning streak to 10 games with Saturday’s 64-43 America East victory at Binghamton.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s 15-5 Black Bears remained undefeated in conference play (10-0) and have now posted 26 consecutive regular-season wins in America East action.

Again, it was defense that enabled UMaine to keep its streak alive. The Bears held the Bearcats to 43 points on 32 percent field-goal shooting, including only 21 percent (5-for-24) in the second half.

“Our defense is what really helped us come out on top,” Versyp said. “We just played hard. The things that we really needed to do well, we did pretty well.”

In conference games, UMaine leads America East in scoring defense (52.0 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.359) while also setting the pace in rebounding margin at plus-6.3.

UMaine travels to Durham, N.H., for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game against New Hampshire.