The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Vosburg looks to hand the reigns over
Behind nearly every high school sports program in the nation is a booster club working tirelessly behind the scenes as well as on the front lines.
Here in Crested Butte, the Titans Booster Club has been in place since the school opened in 1997. It was started by Tom Bosche but Bosche soon handed over the reigns to Joel Vosburg and Vosburg has served as president ever since.
“It was to basically help promote and support middle school and high school athletics,” says Vosburg, to “be an additional fund source to help promote the programs.”
Vosburg recalls the early days of the Booster Club as a struggle financially but with a lot of support from parents of athletes as well as community members. He touts the efforts of Karen Fowler, Lee Dickleman and Chuck and Sally Vennel.
“In the beginning there was a good group of people,” says Vosburg.
Since then, the volunteer corps has nearly disappeared.
“That kind of faded away a little bit,” says Vosburg. “We couldn’t keep a consistent group of people involved so it fell on my shoulders.”
Vosburg’s efforts are undeniably above and beyond the call of duty. He has done everything including snow blowing the track clear in the spring for track workouts, taking pictures at away games, folding towels on the bench at state basketball tournaments and more.
Community School assistant principal and athletics director Bob Piccaro was blown away by the work and support that Vosburg and the Booster Club provide.
“It was an eye opener for me when I got here how much the Booster Club actually does,” says Piccaro. “Without them we wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things. They’re vital.”
In addition to providing financial support for teams covering the cost of uniforms, for example, when the school district cannot, the Booster Club also covers travel costs for teams and individual athletes on the road.
“We’ve gotten a lot more involved in helping to make sports more affordable for the kids,” says Vosburg. “Covering kids travel expenses like dinners on the road.”
Vosburg also makes sure that when teams come to Crested Butte from far away, they have a meal and drinks provided for their long drive home.
According to Piccaro, that outreach helps bring teams back to Crested Butte for future contests.
“That’s pretty huge,” says Piccaro. “We’ve received emails from schools saying they couldn’t believe how gracious we were as hosts. There are little things like that, that the average Joe doesn’t see.”
Furthermore, with the help of student and parent volunteers, the Booster Club is on hand at all home games running a concession stand and selling Titans schwag.
Thanks to the support of several local businesses, the Booster Club has secured a relatively steady stream of income, relative to their first years in existence, to help with costs associated with athletics.
“The biggest thing that helps fund the Booster Club is the banner program in the gym,” says Vosburg.
Now, more than ever, Vosburg is looking for some people to step in and help.
“I’d like to stay involved but I can’t do it all,” says Vosburg. “What I’m trying to do is get parents to step up and help with the individual sports, and get three to five people to take over as a board and help with the different segments.”
Those segments include keeping the Booster Club financial books up to date, taking care of the money in the club coffers, ordering Titans schwag and organizing the concession stand. As it stands right now, Vosburg does it all.
“It’s a labor of love,” admits Vosburg.
“It’s going to take more than one person to fill his shoes,” adds Piccaro. “We need people to step in and help and this is a chance to do that.”
