After only three months after Ball State University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics began selling "Audience of 1" bracelets, the number of bracelets sold and the money earned from the sales are staggering.
The bracelets are being sold in honor of former Ball State golfer Justin Cross, who died from acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January.
Between purchases of the $2 bracelets and personal donations, more than $10,000 has been contributed by Ball State to the Justin Cross scholarship fund, Chris Taylor, director of electronic media and gameday experience, said.
The "Audience of 1" bracelets went on sale in April, and the first order of 3,000 bracelets was sold out by the beginning of May.
Ball State ordered 2,000 more bracelets in May -- half of which were youth-size. A large interest from youth golf programs and from kids across the nation prompted the Athletic Department to order the youth-size bracelets. The department currently has about 1,300 bracelets for sale that were from the second order.
"We had a lot of area youth and junior golf programs that wanted to contribute," Taylor said.
Justin Cross' influence on local youth extends past Wayne and Delaware counties, reaching all around the state.
Men's golf coach Mike Fleck said a young boy, who had befriended Cross while in the hospital, asked to sell bracelets at a Fort Wayne golf tournament, and he sold 100 bracelets in one day.
"[Justin] had such a positive impact on kids," Fleck said. "It's neat to see a wide range of people supporting the cause."
Justin Cross' father, Ron Cross, lives in Richmond where he continues the effort to sell "Audience of 1" bracelets throughout the community. He received 1,000 bracelets from the first order and around 500 from the second.
"I know we've raised $2,000 to $3,000 locally," Ron Cross said. "We hope, when school resumes, to work through the athletic department at the high school to sell them at football games."
The bracelets are also distributed through businesses in the Richmond area.
Ball State, in association with the Cross family, hopes to have a scholarship recipient named during Fall Semester. The amount of scholarship money the recipient will receive has yet to be determined.
"Ron and the family are a big part of the scholarship and in finding a young man for the scholarship," Fleck said.
The Cross family helped Ball State set requirements for the scholarship making it only available to Richmond High School graduates and to students who show excellence both in and out of the classroom.
"We basically set down some criteria and didn't want to limit it to an athlete necessarily," Ron Cross said.
Justin, who graduated from Richmond High School in 1999, helped his high school golf team to a state championship in 1997. He played for the Ball State team his freshman year, before being diagnosed with cancer that summer. After a year away from the links, treatments sent his cancer into remission, and he returned to the team in 2001. However, after the 2002-03 season, his cancer relapsed. He underwent a bone marrow transplant that August, forcing him to leave the team.
Students can purchase bracelets in the Athletics Communications Office in Health and Physical Activities Building room 120.
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