UD Athletics Participates in 2nd Annual Blue Christmas on Thursday
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas Athletics Department partnered with the Irving Police and Fire Department for the second annual Blue Christmas at the school. Erik Graton, the second-year head coach of the UD baseball team started the partnership last fall and invited other programs within the department to participate. It was such a great success in 2018 that the department planned to make it a reoccurring event to help the local community out.
On Thursday, December 12, 2019, the Irving Police and Fire Department arrived to the front parking circle near the bell tower on the Dallas campus. Student-athletes, coaches, and staff that could attend walked up donations to be placed inside the Blue Christmas trailer. People wishing to could then get on the firetruck or sit inside the police car.
Dallas currently fields 15 intercollegiate sports for men and women on the non-athletic scholarship Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Crusaders participate in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).
Blue Christmas was started in 1979 out of the then City Municipal Court building at 835 W. Irving Blvd. It started with 25 families and it has now grown to where we attempt to take care of 400+ families that live in Irving. We originally were under the umbrella of the Irving Police Association charitable account, and then we moved to the Irving Fire Fighters Association. When Texas Stadium was blown up, Swanson gave the City of Irving a donation to be distributed among programs that helped kids in the city. Blue Christmas was awarded $5000 which was the beginning of becoming a 501 c 3 tax exempt program under our own umbrella.