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Thank you to the Tennessee Titans

Let me go ahead and preface this by saying it is going to be a long read.

On May 1 our town was hit by the big flood. Our elementary school was forced to close for the final 18 days of the semester. Our junior high lost a gymnasium that was not fixed until September. Fortunately there was no loss of life.

I do a lot with our local schools and was concerned when I learned that our teachers would not receive any compensation for personal teaching resources lost in the flood. I decided to put together a disaster relief fair that included games, concessions, concerts, inflatables and a charity auction. I sent an e-mail to the Tennessee Titans asking for auction items and immeidately received a response from Larry Stone, Gameday host for the Titans. Larry offered a signed shoe from Kenny Britt and a certificate to be Jeff Fisher's guest at his radio show in Brentwood. A friend won the auction and turned right around and asked me if I wanted to go.

I spent time trying to figure out the perfect item to get signed. I decided to get an open edition print of the Music City Miracle signed by Jeff and Mike Keith, the announcer who coined the phrase "Music City Miracle". Of course this was if they would be willing to sign. While I waited I contacted Kevin Dyson who said he would sign them regardless of what happened at the radio show.

Before the dinner took place another auction was announced to help the disaster relief efforts. I sent an e-mail to my contact asking if I could being a couple of extra prints to get signed for the auction. I received their approval and contacted the artist who agreed to give me copies for free.

We get to the restaurant and we are taken to our reserved seats. My contact comes to the table and askes what we have to get signed and if there are any specifications. I give a few things and get asked "Is that all?". I explain that I do not want to be "that guy" who takes advantage of a situation and I am assured to find anything I want to get signed. I have over 3 Music City Miracle prints and give the instructions. I also handed over a pair of custom cards that featured Coach Fisher wearing a Peyton Manning jersey. After the additional assurance I went to the card to get a football someone had asked me to bring "just in case". Everything was signed, even my custom cards of Jeff in the Peyton Manning jersey.

We had the opportunity to visit and get our pictures made with Jeff, Mike Keith and Titan Derrick Morgan. The Titans also paid for dinner. All of them were very kind. It was great to get to personally thank them for their help with the disaster relief efforts.

All of this would have been more than enough. However, the crew gave me an official Titan helmet that was then signed by Coach Fisher for the auction. The Titans Radio crew followed it up by saying that they would be willing to take the three Music City Miracle prints to Frank Wycheck to get autographed. That way, they would be signed by Coach Fisher, Mike Keith, Frank and ultimately Kevin Dyson.

Here's a scan of the custom that Jeff signed:

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Completed signed print:

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Here's the total recap of the money raised through the Titans:

Dinner auction/Britt shoe: $400+

Signed football from Jeff Fisher: $100
Signed Fisher helmet traded from Titans for unsigned Music City Miracle print: $275
Framed Music City Miracle Print signed by Fisher/Keith/Dyson/Wycheck: $500
Signed Kevin Dyson shirts: $25 minimum x at least 5 sold: $125

So when you survey all of this the Titans were able to generate some $1,400 through their generosity. Pretty amazing. What is cool is that I still hope to organize another fundraiser with Kevin Dyson in early 2011. Amazing what a single act of kindness can lead to.

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