A Letter From The Pirate Club

Pirate Club Membership,

It's an honor to be the caretaker of the Pirate Club as the new executive director and walk in the shoes of the many great men and women who have worked for and served this illustrious organization.

My promise to you is I will never take for granted walking into the Jim and Louise Jones Pirate Club Office Suite each morning, surrounded by a talented staff that wants to serve our membership.

In my three years with ECU Athletics, I have learned about the history of the Pirate Club and what makes it unique. Several longtime staffers would share stories about the evolution of the foundation, not only the sunny days but also the rough times where membership banded together to make the Pirate Club stronger.

The roots of the Pirate Club started nearly 60 years ago when eight local community leaders, dubbed "The Untouchables" decided to make ECU Athletics a priority and their loyalty and passion became contagious. Those early days with the "Century Club" turned into the ECU Educational Foundation and Pirate Club, the official fundraising arm for ECU Athletics.

The mission has never changed. It remains about serving.

I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of special individuals in my career, but I have met my match with the Pirates. There's simply nothing like being a part of the Pirate Club, East Carolina University and the athletics department.

The Pirate Club is unique in so many ways. It's made by the people, the lifetime bonds formed over a love for the Pirates and an eagerness to serve the amazing student-athletes who make the decision to wear purple and gold. I hear the passion and enthusiasm every day talking to our amazing supporters and witness the atmosphere created by our loyal fan base at home and on the road.

I am looking forward to working alongside an incredible team of dedicated professionals in the Pirate Club, athletics director Jon Gilbert, the athletics staff and Pirate Club Executive Committee members that share the passion and commitment to serve Pirate Nation. We have strong leadership and support at the top from Chancellor Philip Rogers and the university.

Do we have work to do? Absolutely.

The most important work ahead is connecting with Pirate fans across our community, surrounding region and state. We have heard you loud and clear as you have voiced your recommendations of how the Pirate Club can have better engagement. We have an opportunity to come out of the pandemic with new, innovative, and creative plans to reach our members.

Our mission is crystal clear and unwavering. We are here to serve.

We want you to hold us accountable. This must be a relationship built on trust and transparency. We have a talented staff in place ready to connect and cultivate relationships.

It has been a difficult 19 months with the pandemic. I'm proud of the work we've done together, and the progress made to date. The pandemic has impacted all of us and our staff is learning to think differently because we understand everyone is carefully considering every expenditure. We are fortunate that so many of you have chosen to support the Pirate Club and the 400-plus student-athletes competing for the Pirates.

We have several initiatives that we will focus on in the coming months to increase membership:

Football season tickets and the arrival of fans on Sept. 11 when the Pirates host South Carolina. All suites and loge boxes in the TowneBank Tower are sold out and less than 60 seats in the Trade Club area are available. If you want to sit in the TowneBank Tower in 2021, please call the Pirate Club this week to secure your seats. New furniture is being placed in the Williams Clark Club and we are hopeful additional sales will take place prior to the season-opener. Season ticket numbers are hovering around 12,000 and we are we are hopeful for a strong August in sales.
Be an active participant in our 37 Pirate Club chapters which includes visits, listening sessions and a dedicated contact to each chapter. The pandemic stalled all travel for our staff, but we have a group ready to return to the road to reconnect with Pirate supporters.
Reintroduce the Pirates Supporting Pirates program which will include the recently instituted Pirate Perks initiative as we look to engage and support the many businesses that support the Pirate Club. It is our hope that we are on the cusp of our supporters wanting to travel again and visit our campus. The Pirate Club wants to be that bridge where we can help promote the wonderful businesses and restaurants our community has to offer. It's imperative we partner together and support the businesses affiliated with the Pirate Club. We are finalizing a rollout plan and hope to have a new sticker in business across Greenville and community soon.
Provide additional benefits to ECU students who join the Student Pirate Club. Part of those incentives will include exclusive events, new giveaways upon joining and more innovative way of communicating with the membership. ECU Athletics and the Pirate Club will be announcing a dedicated tailgate area for student organizations in early August.
Create a more detailed program for former varsity letter winners to support the overall success of ECU Athletics. Keys to the success of this program will be creating a space for our letter winners to rekindle old friendships and make new ones on their visits to campus. We want letter winners involved with our individual sport programs and we will provide that direct link.
Tell the stories of our student-athletes and donors on a variety of social media platforms and at ecupirateclub.com.

We are encouraged about the staff we have built over the past four months and what we can accomplish. Drew Moeller rejoined the Pirate Club staff as assistant athletics director for development after a two-year stay at Pittsburgh and an earlier five-year tenure in Greenville. Drew and I have worked closely to hire three staff members that were announced last week in Carly Moore (director of development), Danielle Morrin (assistant director of development) and Blaise Hudson (assistant director of development). All three have hit the ground running and bring energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge to the department.

One constant in the Pirate Club is the presence and expertise of Matt Maloney, known as "Big Guy," to many in Pirate Nation. Matt is a valuable resource to our entire staff and has not only been a terrific mentor to our new staff, but I'm fortunate to call him a friend and teammate.

Carrie Ritzler continues to do an outstanding job as director of special events and hospitality. The business office of the Pirate Club is led by Brittany Stockstill along with Molly Pierce and Beth Rose. A phone call to the Pirate Club usually means a conversation with LaTrenda Britt who provides administrative support.

Again, we are thankful to have a staff that appreciates the history of the Pirate Club, the work done before us by so many, and we are looking forward to serving our membership for years to come.

Please give us a chance and join us on this journey to move the Pirate Club and ECU Athletics forward. Please reach out to me at robinsonry18@ecu.edu with any questions, suggestions, or concerns.

Go Pirates!

Ryan Robinson
Executive Director

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