BOWLING GREEN — On May 15, Bowling Green State University's baseball alumni base had one giant issue, no playbook, and precious little time to act.
Citing financial issues inflamed by the coronavirus pandemic, the university cut the baseball team — but for the Save BGSU Baseball campaign, that was only the starting point.
In the span of 18 days, the program went from not existing to being reinstated, an improbable success story for the former Falcons baseball players who turned passion into rapid, coordinated action.
The news of the program being cut quickly turned into a flurry of calls and text messages, which turned into Zoom calls, social media posts, and an email account, which turned into significant fund-raising in a matter of days, which earned critically important meetings with BGSU administrators — a snowball that turned into a program-saving avalanche.