SF RTC President - Committed to SF State Wrestling
Rob Gibbs Scholarship Endowment
A generous gift by Rob Gibbs (alumnus class of 1977) has established a scholarship endowment to support our wrestling program.
Over the past decade or so since Coach Jason Welch's time at SF Sate, Rob has been the driving force — in pushing our program forward.
Rob attended SFSU from 1972-1977, earning a BA in Political Science. During his time as a Gator, he wrestled under legendary coach Allen Abraham. While he was actively training and competing as an athlete, he was also the player–coach guy who was able to help Allen with running the program off the mat.
On that note– Rob was also very active in student government at SF State. He has urged me over the years to expand the wrestling program’s circle from just-the-mat, to across campus over the years. This turned out to be incredibly important and insightful. We saw that effort blossom recently, as the students voted last Spring to increase the student fee to support athletics and our wrestling program. This was largely helped by our current wrestlers being involved in student groups/government, and making sure that we have a presence outside of Athletics. Just one example of many of how Rob has steered the ship in the right direction!
Rob has remained engaged with university and supported our wrestling program for over 40 years. He currently serves as the President of the San Francisco Wrestling Club / Regional Training Center; and he is truly the center-point of alumni engagement.
On a personal note, I’m extremely grateful to Rob. As a very young coach taking over the program in 2017, I was in need of a strong mentor as well as someone to introduce me to the gigantic, strong, and passionate alumni group. Now, eight years later, Rob still serves as a strong mentor for me. It’s been a wild ride and Rob has been there for me personally and professionally as we navigated many obstacles as a program.
Again and truly — I’m extremely grateful for Rob’s commitment and his guidance as we steer the ship into the next era. And, I’m very-very happy to be able to memorialize that commitment with the Rob Gibbs Wrestling endowment.
Thank you Rob!! Let’s keep this thing rolling!
GO GATORS!
Jason Welch
Head Wrestling Coach
SF State Wrestling
Make A Gift
You can give directly to the Rob Gibbs Scholarhsip Endowment with this unique link
https://give.sfsu.edu/SFSURWGES
If you'd like to make a larger gift or speak more in depth about the fund, please contact Coach Welch and David Fierberg (Head of Fundraising for SFSU Wrestling) at dfierberg@sfsu.edu
Why Growing this Endowment Matters
The most financially stable programs in the country have endowments that support their coaching positions and/or athletic scholarship. For us, this is about building prowess today, AND a legacy.
An endowed fund is invested, and then our program draws 4% annualy to support current use scholarship. In this way, the fund exists in perpetity to honor the namesake of the scholarship and to support our program.
Endowed funds are contractually bound to support our wrestling student athletes for generations to come. There is a legal contract with the main donor that exists within the unvieristy.
At SF State we are committed to the long-term stewardship of this, and ensuring our ability ty to suceed today as well as stbalizing our program for the future.
