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JOHNPURDUECLUB.COM T H E T E A M B E H I N D T H E T E A M S EULER'S FUND VB HEAD COACHING ENDOWMENT THE ENDOWMENT IS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND WITHIN PURDUE ATHLETICS After years of supporting Purdue Athletics and particularly Purdue volleyball, Art and Connie Euler have endowed the program's head-coaching position, renaming head coach Dave Shondell's position as the Art and Connie Euler Head Volleyball Coach. "Our program is extremely fortunate to enjoy Art and Connie Euler as integral members of the Purdue volleyball family," Shondell said. "This university has few supporters who are as passionate about Purdue Athletics as the Eulers. We appreciate their genuine support in every way. Art and Connie are an ideal example of the awesome loyalty that makes Purdue a very unique place." "Even before we endowed a scholarship, coach Shondell and we had interacted quite a bit," Art said. "We just really liked him as a person, what he's doing with the program, and particularly the quality of athletes he's recruiting. We also like how he came from Muncie as a high school coach to a program that had been very successful in the 1980's but then had taken somewhat of a dip and was truly at its lowest point when coach Shondell came on board. It took him about a year to get us back in the NCAA Tournament and if you look up on the wall (in Holloway Gymnasium), except for a stumble every once in a while, we've been in the tournament every year that he's been here." Prior to coming home to Purdue, Art had traveled the country making stops in Arkansas and California prior to meeting Connie in Michigan and moving together to North Carolina. It was while Art was in California that he was introduced to the sport of volleyball and he has been a fan ever since. During Art's time in California teams from southern California were dominating the sport as these schools were contenders for men's championships almost every season. "Art and Connie are special people, and not only for their passion for Purdue Athletics and their tremendous generosity," vice president and athletics director Mike Bobinski said. "They care about young people and about ensuring that our student-athletes have tremendous leaders and role models as coaches. That's why it is not surprising that they are the first to step forward and endow a coaching position. We can't thank them enough for their ongoing support." When the Eulers moved together to West Lafayette they had season tickets to just about every Purdue sporting event other than volleyball because Connie didn't have interest in the sport she had never been exposed to. This situation changed after Shondell and Art met at a golf outing sponsored by the John Purdue Club and Art told him it would take some convincing to get Connie to become a season-ticket holder. Shondell achieved this objective when he made a point of personally inviting the Eulers, particularly Connie, to a volleyball match that season and from that point on, they have been two of the program's biggest supporters. "It's beyond words how rewarding it is for us to be able to do this," Connie said. "I feel so blessed to be able to support Purdue and the things that are happening here from an