Assistant Athletic Director Tim Perry deemed it a “perfect storm of events” that caused the winter athletic banquet to be postponed and combined with the spring banquet.

“We were getting down to the wire, giving everybody ample notice about the banquet,” said Perry. “But we only had a minimal number of tickets sold.”

Although he admitted that he “really doesn’t know” why there were so few tickets sold, Perry thinks that it was due to a combination of the poor economy, the weather, and start of the spring sports season. 

“Most of our athletes play multiple sports, and it’s hard to afford [tickets for] two or three banquets in a school year. Also, the winter banquet had already been pushed back because of the snow and so athletes just figured that they needed to be at their spring sports tryouts,” Perry said.

Perry is optimistic about the success of the coming combined sports banquet, saying, “Everybody, I think, will work together on this.”

However, he admitted that there were “a couple compromises we had to make. But, I mean, it was the worst winter since I was a baby,” Perry said.

Perry and the Athletic Department have not set a date for the winter-spring combined sports banquet yet. However, because they need to work around the seniors’ schedules, “it’s quite the juggling act,” Perry said.

He added, “One of the toughest challenges [in scheduling the banquet] is that some of our teams are so successful and prolong their season by advancing in the end-of-the-season tournaments.”

Despite these challenges, Perry said that he plans to “give all students and parents ample opportunity to come together and enjoy JC athletics this spring.”

Student-athletes have mixed emotions about the combined sports banquet. “I think it will take the spotlight off winter sports. The emphasis will probably be on spring sports,” freshman swimmer and golf-player Jon Leishman said.

Junior wrestler Lance Waters agreed. “I’m not going,” he said. “I don’t play a spring sport and I think [winter and spring sports banquets] should be separate – each season should get its own banquet.”

However, the other student-athletes seem to think the combined banquet is a good idea.

“I think it’s good, because it brings everyone together in the John Carroll community,” Marcus Munroe, a freshmen on the JV basketball team, said.

Freshmen JV lacrosse player Hayden Sharretts agreed. “I think it’s a good idea [to combine banquets] because of the economy right now.”

Mollyann Pais can be reached for comment at [email protected].