Pit Crew Video Nets $30K for UO
The efforts of a member of the Pit Crew have netted $30,000 for the University of Oregon's general scholarship fund.
During the 2014-15 NCAA Division I men’s basketball regular season, the NCAA conducted a national promotion – Let’s Dance. As part of the promotion, the NCAA asked fans to submit 15 second videos showing how the game moves them.
Ryan Levenson, Director of Video for the Pit Crew, and a student in the UO's School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) created a video, "Suit Up," along with fellow SOJC students Jacob Stitzel Tanner Hirst that ended up being the Pac-12 champion and national runner-up among all the contest's submissions.
“The task was to show what moves you about NCAA college basketball in just 15 seconds,” Levenson told the SOJC. “We decided to show the movement that takes place hours before the game—the preparation that begins as the team shows up to the court and our fans gear up for battle. We wanted the idea to be quick and clear.”
The video was aired on CBS during its national televised March Madness coverage.
Prizes were awarded weekly for submissions and voting. A winning video from each conference was chosen to go into the final fan voting stage. Levenson's video won an initial $10,000 for being voted the Pac-12's winner. Then, for finishing among the top four finalists in the national fan voting, an additional $20,000 went to the UO general scholarship fund.
