Former UNLV football player and kicker Michael Chudd remembers having to make that big leap – from suiting up on the field to needing a suit for his post-collegiate endeavors. Chudd is actively involved with the UNLV Football Foundation and has long been looking for a way to personally connect with the athletes that will help prepare them for the future educationally and aesthetically. Enter today’s big news, Chudd connected with Blueprint Sports to develop a new and exciting program to send the UNLV football senior class off into the “real world” in style ….
As part of this program, each graduating member of the UNLV football team will now receive a custom-made dress suit ahead of graduation. Today, Thursday, November 11, the first group of seniors – Farrell Hester II, Noah Bean and Tre Caine – completed their fittings. The suits will be hand-crafted by the team at Maceoo inside the ARIA Resort & Casino and will be delivered to the student-athletes in mid-December.
Other soon-to-be-graduating athletes will visit Maceoo for fittings in the coming weeks/months and Chudd, who is sponsoring the cost of the suits, anticipates approximately 15-25 graduating UNLV football players annually will be a part of the program.
The partnership comes on the heels of the landmark decision allowing intercollegiate athletes to earn compensation for their name, image, and likeness. In return for the suits, the players will be completing a financial literacy course provided by Montage Financial Group along with visiting a local Las Vegas high school to meet with students and to share the lessons learned as they transitioned from high school to college. Also, the athletes will soon be posting photos of their new, snazzy look on their respective social media pages.
“I spend a lot of time helping my clients children prepare for the next phase of life and thought this would be a great way give back to the community that helped mold me,” said Chudd. “I believe in these young men and their determination to be their best on the field and off. This is the beginning of an excellent partnership with Blueprint Sports, too.”
Chudd, who graduated UNLV in 1995 and is now managing director of Montage Financial Group, found the perfect partner in Las Vegas-based Blueprint Sports who have created an intuitive marketplace platform that brings athletes together with their local communities and national brands for a wide range of in-person or digital engagements. Blueprint Sports officially launched in October and unveiled its first major campaign for the men’s basketball student-athletes at UNLV in partnership with Findlay Toyota, Logic Commercial Real Estate and other Southern Nevada supporters.
