Six hundred pounds of nickels delivered to Marshall as part of Fort Gay High School Alumni Association’s latest gift

The Fort Gay High School Alumni Association has given Marshall University thousands of dollars in contributions, but the group’s latest donation was delivered to the school on Saturday, November 19, in an unusual fashion.

The group wanted to mark the unveiling of the new buffalo nickel, which occurred earlier this year, and honor Marshall University by making part of its $34,000 donation in nickels. On the 19th, 600 pounds of the coins were delivered via backhoe to the campus, accompanied by officers from the MU Police Department and the Huntington Police Department.

“A major gift comprised of buffalo nickels is a very unique way of highlighting both scholarship and the Thundering Herd.  When we discuss having every penny count in higher education, we discover that our Fort Gay alumni group has gone five times better,”  said Dr. H. Keith Spears, Marshall’s vice president of communications and marketing and a graduate of Fort Gay High School in Wayne County.

“We appreciate David Graley of Bank One helping us with the logistics in obtaining the nickels and Rick Weston of Walker Cat for the heavy equipment transportation,” Spears added.

Richard Plymale, president of the Fort Gay High School Alumni Association, explained the reason for the organization’s continuing support of Marshall.

“We who graduated from Fort Gay High School came away with a set of values and a work ethic which we didn’t see duplicated everywhere,” Plymale said. “We wanted to give something back to our community and a scholarship at Marshall seemed like a good way to accomplish that.”

Glen Kerkian, president/ceo of the Marshall University Foundation Inc., praised the FGHS alumni for their efforts.

“This fine tradition of grassroots fundraising by the Fort Gay Alumni Association has created a conduit for attracting students to Marshall and then providing them with the critical resources when they arrive,” Kerkian said.

In 1988, Fort Gay High School consolidated with Crum High School to form Tolsia High School. One student is chosen each year to receive the Fort Gay High School scholarship.

More information is available by calling Spears at (304) 696-2965.