As a member of the Golden Grizzlies Band in his undergraduate years, Anthony Gallina attended hundreds of sporting events, 192 men’s basketball games over the past 12 seasons, to be exact. He is known as the Oakland super fan.

While attending Oakland, Gallina noticed there wasn’t a student organization that ran the student section known as the Grizz Gang.

“My senior year, fall 2007, some friends and I decided to establish it as a student organization and create some exciting pep rallies, tailgates and other fun events to engage the campus community, to show school pride and cheer on our Golden Grizzlies sports teams,” Gallina said.

OU graduate and former Grizz Gang member, Ryan Mostiller, came up with an idea to give back Oakland. Mostiller and other former Grizz Gang members and OU graduates, including Gallina, jointly funded the Golden Grizzly Spirit Award. 

This $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student who loves and cares about OU as much as the original Grizz Gang members did.

“The goal for this scholarship was two-fold. The first is for the eight of us passionate young alumni to give back to OU and to a passion area of ours, which is promoting school spirit. The other is to create a new incentive for students to take their school sprit to the next level and for those super loyal and dedicated spirit members of campus to have a chance to be rewarded with a scholarship,” Gallina said.

The scholarship will be awarded during the 2016 winter semester and presented during a basketball game.

President of Grizz Gang, Jessica Stocker, said the student who receives the scholarship should bleed black and gold and be involved in the Grizz Gang student section. 

“It’s more than just going to basketball games and wearing your Grizz Gang shirt. Anyone can have a passion for OU, but the scholarship recipient is the student who does something with that passion,” Stocker said.

“I hope that the student that receives this scholarship loves this university more than anyone else,” said Grizz Gang’s vice president, Christian Little,  “That they are a person that dedicates their time and effort into growing and supporting Oakland and not just for athletics. It should be a person that truly bleeds black and gold.” 

Any Oakland University student can apply for this scholarship.