by Thomas Romero-Salas
sports@dailylobo.com
@ThomasRomeroS
It all started with missing a football game for Matt Zajac.
During the fourth quarter of New Mexico State’s 26-16 loss to San Diego State in Las Cruces on Sept. 28, Zajac’s name was randomly pulled from the school’s student date base. NMSU began offering prizes late September to students who attend and stick around for the entirety of an Aggies home football game.
The prizes, which include $2,000, $250 and a VIP parking pass, are intended to boost student attendance numbers, which usually average between 2,500 and 3,000 students each a game, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Zajac had been chosen the lucky winner of a $2,000 student incentive prize, but there was one problem: Zajac didn’t show up for the game.
Zajac, a double-leg amputee after losing a portion of both of his legs in an IED explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, while serving in the Army in May 2007, was at home feeding his 87-year-old grandmother. It’s been his duty to help his grandma since his father passed away earlier in the year.
When Zajac learned he had lost out of the initial $2,000 prize, he said he wasn’t mad or disappointed but that someone else could use the money more than he could.
“I didn’t win the money and that’s no big deal,” he said.
But for Mark Chavez, he couldn’t stomach the idea of a wounded veteran losing out on money that could potentially help him and his family.
“It first drew my attention when I saw the picture in the (Albuquerque) Journal,” Chavez said. “After I read the story I thought that it wasn’t right and that it could’ve been handled differently. I just thought ‘If a big business, a large company wouldn’t come up to aid… then maybe I would try and do it.’”
Chavez, website owner of UNM fan site TheLoboLair.com, started a donation on his site for Zajac just before 8 a.m. on Thursday and by 3:50 p.m. the contributions had reached about $2,000. Chavez said around 30 members of the Lobo Lair pledged to give money, and that the donations ranged from $10 to $200.
The money will be given to Zajac through a PayPal so he can take full ownership of it, Chavez said.
Zajac said he plans to keep half of the money and give the other half to the Fisher House Foundation. The Fisher House Foundation is an organization that gives houses to wounded veterans’ families near the grounds of major military and VA medical centers across the U.S. and Europe. Zajac has volunteered for the Fisher House on several occasions.
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“It’s pretty surprising to me. I found out last night (on Thursday),” he said. “I wasn’t really sure how to react and I’m still not sure how to completely react. I’m honored that people felt the desire to do such a thing. I don’t think I did anything all that spectacular.”
Zajac said the whole situation is “funny” to him and he’s never been caught up in a media storm like this before.
“All the different things I’ve done and this catches people’s attention. I really don’t understand it,” he said. “I’ve been on radio and TV for the Fisher House Foundation and it’s never picked up like this.”
In an email sent to the Daily Lobo, NMSU deputy athletic director Dave McCollum said the school will “recognize” Zajac and other military veterans when the Aggies host Boston College on Nov. 9, but that those plans have not been finalized at this time. On NMSU’s athletic website, it says the game is intended to be “Military Appreciation Day.”
Chavez said it was more about showing gratitude to an army veteran than anything else.
“I really don’t think of it as so much as Lobo fans versus New Mexico State fans,” Chavez said. “It was more about the New Mexicans that have served our country and served New Mexico. It’s more about looking it at that type of lens, not necessarily Lobos vs. Aggies.”
