University of North Carolina Athletics
NFL Star Dre' Bly To Chair 2005 Rams Club Membership Campaign
January 18, 2005 | Football
Jan. 18, 2005
CHAPEL HILL --- Dre' Bly, the only three-time first-team All-America in ACC football history and a two-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, will serve as Honorary Chair of the Rams Club Membership Campaign in 2005.
The Rams Club, formally known as the Educational Foundation Inc., annually supports athletic grant-in-aids to more than 450 student-athletes at the University of North Carolina.
"Rams Club members gave me the opportunity to come to Carolina on full scholarship and I just want to help another kid receive the same opportunity I had," says Bly, who also endowed a football grant-in-aid in 2004. "I want another young man to experience the amazing things that happened to me once I came to Chapel Hill. I will always be proud of where I've come from, and stick my chest out when I say I attended the University of North Carolina."
Bly will assist executive director John Montgomery and the Rams Club staff in adding new members. Currently, the Rams Club has more than 13,400 members, whose annual dues help to offset more than $8 million in scholarship expenses.
Bly was recently named to the NFC Pro Bowl team for the second consecutive year. He has played six years in the NFL, including four with the St. Louis Rams and the past two with the Lions. The Chesapeake, Va., native has 24 career interceptions and returned five of them for touchdowns.
Bly earned first-team All-America honors at Carolina in 1996, 1997 and 1998. No other player in ACC history has been a first-team All-America in three seasons. He led the nation in interceptions as a freshman when he picked off 11 passes in the regular season, then added two more pass thefts in the 1997 Gator Bowl win over West Virginia. He finished his career with an ACC record 20 regular-season interceptions.
"It speaks well of the Rams Club and Tar Heel student-athletes to have someone as successful as Dre¹ Bly give of his own resources and time to lead this important campaign," says Montgomery. "It is imperative we grow our donor base as scholarship costs continue to climb. Dre' is a first-class ambassador for Carolina. His involvement with this membership campaign shows current and potential members how committed we are in our support of Carolina student-athletes."
