Written by Doug Goodnough
This article is part one of four in The Leadership Game series, published in the spring 2024 edition of Arete.
John Cervini’s remarkable fundraising career had its humble origins in the Boy Scouts, a Fuller Brush salesman, and a wrestling bear.
The man who arrived at Hillsdale College more than 50 years ago as a football prospect from Long Island, New York, has stayed to carve out a career as a relentless, tireless, passionate, and uber-successful fundraiser for his alma mater. Over that half-century, he has been one of the constants at the College, from his days as a standout offensive lineman to serving the College in a variety of roles, including his current one of leading a more than 100-person team as the executive vice president of Institutional Advancement.
The 1974 graduate has been a driving force for the College in so many ways. He has helped the College and others acquire the resources it needs to build the endowment, improve its facilities, strengthen its academic profile, and ultimately spread Hillsdale’s mission to a worldwide audience, not to mention building countless relationships with alumni, parents, and friends of the College. He has made Hillsdale’s mission his mission.
He will meet with anyone who is interested in helping the College and will do so with a warm smile, a welcoming presence, and the ability to listen to and engage with people on their terms.
Athletics was a pivotal part of Cervini’s life—and continues to be. The lessons he learned as a Hillsdale student-athlete and coach still apply to what he does today and were a foundation for how he leads and manages his fundraising team.
A Guy with “Guts”
As a high school football player from the bedroom community of Garden City, New York, approximately 30 miles from New York City, Cervini had college options. In fact, he visited the University of North Carolina and was impressed by the campus.
“But the classes were huge,” he said. “I mean, some [classes] were bigger than our high school graduating class. I didn’t think I would do very well in that environment.”
Then-Hillsdale College head football coach Frank “Muddy” Waters and assistant Warren Spragg happened to recruit the Long Island area and convinced Cervini to visit Hillsdale. He liked what he saw on campus. He also took note of then-Hillsdale President J. Donald Phillips’ stance on discouraging dissent and violence on campus during the tumultuous Vietnam War period.
“I said, ‘Dad, wow! There is a guy with guts,’” Cervini said.
The rest, they say, is history.
“I went home and told my folks, ‘That’s where I’m going to go to college,’” he said after a two-day visit to campus.
Cervini had an interest in the sciences, and faculty member Dr. John Catenhusen tried to encourage him to become a doctor. Cervini eventually settled on a business major and the pre-law program, thinking he was on a path to becoming a lawyer. In fact, during his senior year, he applied and was accepted into law school at St. John’s University back in his home state.
But then the NFL happened.
The Path Back to Hillsdale
Cervini, who was a standout offensive guard for the Chargers, became the College’s first football academic All-American in 1972. His legendary strength and imposing 270-pound frame caught the attention of the Detroit Lions.
In July of 1974, the National Football League players went on strike, and teams had very few of their regular players report to training camp. Teams decided to fill the rosters with rookie free agents, and Cervini received a phone call from then-Lions General Manager Russ Thomas about trying out for a roster spot.
“He said, ‘We’re looking for players if you don’t mind crossing the picket line,’” Cervini said of the phone call. “So I said, ‘Yeah, what the heck.’”
His NFL career lasted three exhibition games. He lined up against NFL stars like Ben Davidson of the Oakland Raiders. But 6-foot-6, 285-pound Chiefs defensive tackle Wilbur Young, a former second-round draft pick, was (literally) his biggest challenge.
“He was just a bull all night,” Cervini said.
When the strike ended in August, so did Cervini’s NFL career. He had a chance to rethink law school, and when one of his former coaches, then-fundraising head Jack McAvoy, called and offered him a job, he returned to Hillsdale as alumni director and assistant football coach.
He was a natural as a coach, especially in recruiting student-athletes. He said the in-person meetings with the parents were the ultimate key to winning recruiting battles.
“I would sit down with their parents, particularly their mothers,” Cervini said of his strategy. “And I would talk to their mothers because if you could get their mothers to believe in you, you’re in.”
In fact, he was determined to build a recruitment “pipeline” from Long Island to Hillsdale, and would often fly in potential football recruits from New York to campus.
“We would fly them into the Jackson airport,” Cervini said. “All those boys had never been on a plane. And by the time they came from Jackson to Hillsdale, I could have put anything in front of them and they were going to sign it.”
His recruitment philosophy would serve him well as he transitioned to fundraising.
Fundraising Fundamentals
He was intrigued at a young age by the art of the sale.
As a Boy Scout, he was asked to sell a Christmas gift package featuring personal care items. He would go door-to-door, and, “if I could get inside, I could sell.”
There was also a Fuller Brush salesman who regularly came to his house. As a boy, Cervini said he was enthralled by his presentation.
“He would come and set out his wares,” he said. “And I would sit there and listen to him. And so would my mother. And I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is really good.’”
Fast forward 20 years or so. As Hillsdale’s offensive line coach, he was now a coaching colleague of McAvoy, who was the defensive coordinator but also the head of the development office. McAvoy would often spend his days in the offseason on the fundraising trail. Cervini became more aware of Hillsdale’s legal battle with the government over the College’s refusal of federal funding, and he wondered if there was more he could do.
“I was shocked at how little money the College had,” said Cervini, referring to the College’s endowment fund. “I didn’t know if the College was going to be around.”
When Waters left Hillsdale to coach at Saginaw Valley State University, McAvoy took over as head football coach. Jerry Roberts, ’64, another former Chargers football player, stepped in to run development and offered Cervini a fundraising position.
“I liked fundraising. I was interested in it,” he said. “Why was that? I mean, obviously, you have to have the right cause.”
One of his first forays into fundraising was an athletic fundraiser involving Victor the Wrestling Bear in Stock Fieldhouse in 1976.
Cervini and a colleague read a newspaper article about a wrestling bear that appeared at an event in Detroit. Intrigued, they decided to see for themselves.
“I thought it must be a guy in a bear outfit. They are not wrestling a real bear,” he said. “We go down there and it was a real bear. And he wrestles all these guys.”
Afterward, they spoke with the bear’s owner and trainer, “Gorgeous George” Allen, who agreed to bring the 600-pound brown bear to Hillsdale to help raise funds for the H Club.
Cervini said ticket sales were not very good leading up to the event, and he contacted Allen about what they could do to increase interest.
“They don’t believe us,” he told Allen.
A day or so before the event, Allen arrived in Hillsdale with his tractor-trailer, which was carrying Victor. Allen proceeded to parade Victor around town, first to the local radio station, then through downtown. He even walked Victor into the College dining hall, where the bear, rising up on his back legs, proceeded to drink a large container of Coca-Cola while students were trying to figure out what they were watching.
“[Allen] goes, ‘Stock Fieldhouse tonight. Eight o’clock. Be there.’ And then he walks the bear out. It was surreal,” Cervini said.
He also had the honor of wrestling Victor, along with several other Chargers before a “jam-packed” fieldhouse audience. According to local news reports, Cervini lasted about 15 minutes before relenting.
“I had wrestled [in the past], and I was still pretty heavy,” Cervini said of the experience. “The fact is I was trying to win. He had a muzzle, but his tongue would come out, and it was like sandpaper on your face. And you’re locked in. It was a hoot.”
And a fundraising success.
On the Campaign Trail
After serving as a fundraiser and assistant football coach for a few years, it was time to focus solely on fundraising for the College.
Cervini had been part of a couple of successful Hillsdale fundraising campaigns, including the initial Freedom Fund. He learned that you can only visit so many people in person, so he looked to other areas of outreach to help potential donors learn about Hillsdale.
One was Imprimis, the monthly speech digest produced by the College. Starting with 1,000 subscribers in 1972, he recognized that growing that readership could lead to bigger things financially. So he called a national print advertising expert, and the College invested in an ad campaign promoting Imprimis in publications such as Reader’s Digest, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.
“The ad campaign ran for about three years,” Cervini said. “We tracked all those ads, we tracked all those people, and it paid off. When Dr. Arnn arrived, we started with radio host Paul Harvey and expanded to Rush Limbaugh and others.”
Imprimis now has more than six million subscribers and growing. The publication that provides various views on important issues also helps the College in areas like admissions.
In fact, it was through Imprimis that the John Halter Shooting Sports Education Center became possible. A donor apparently never met with anyone at Hillsdale College, but was an Imprimis subscriber. After his passing, he left a sizable gift to fund shooting sports scholarships.
There was just one problem: the College didn’t have shooting sports, or the facilities to host them. However, the impetus of that gift eventually led to the Halter Center, which is now one of the top facilities of its kind in the world and a U.S. Olympic training center. Hillsdale’s shooting sports teams now compete for national championships on a regular basis.
Events such as the National Leadership Seminars (formerly known as the Shavano Institute for National Leadership) were staged around the country to bring Hillsdale College to the people. Cervini said Hillsdale’s approach to engagement and hospitality has paid off in big ways.
“[When I joined the College] they were doing events, but they were charging people. Do you want to charge $10 for people to come here? Do you want the president of Hillsdale or a faculty member to come and talk and get 20 people there? Or do you want to have 150 people there and not charge them, and they hear the message? And if it’s good, they’re going to give you many times what it costs to hold this event.”
What’s the Cervini fundraising philosophy?
“Look, you can’t make people give if they don’t want to give,” he said. “You have to be able to tell the story and explain why what we’re doing is important. And if you can do that and people are interested, they’ll come around. People think we go in and see somebody and walk out with a check. I’ve had relationships for years with people, and they haven’t made a gift in some cases for 20 years. The situation wasn’t right.”
He said Hillsdale President Dr. Larry Arnn, whom he first met during a fundraising trip to California’s Claremont Institute, was exactly what the College needed after President George Roche’s departure. He said he appreciates Dr. Arnn’s focus on adhering to the founding principles of the College: learning, character, faith, and freedom. And he notes Dr. Arnn’s insistence on hiring quality faculty.
During his time, the College has completed several successful fundraising campaigns. The 71-year-old Cervini said there is still more work to be done. And he still enjoys doing it in person.
“Nothing beats being in front of them, and telling the story,” Cervini said of visiting donors. “Because they want to know, and they’ve got questions, and you have to be able to answer them intelligently.”
‘Blocking and Tackling’
Cervini said the lessons and techniques he learned through athletics translated well into the fundraising world. And Hillsdale College Athletics is still a big part of his life.
“I think having a good athletic program is a plus for the College because you have to have good student-athletes,” said Cervini, who still is a regular spectator at many Chargers athletic events along with his wife, Susan. “Athletics and academics go hand in hand. We’ve had some very fine students come here because we have a [NCAA] Division II program, but it doesn’t dominate the academics as it does at many schools.”
Cervini manages his Advancement team much like he did as a coach. He said athletic principles like teamwork, dedication, commitment, loyalty, and goal-setting apply to fundraising as well.
“It’s like blocking and tackling [in football], right? You have to do it,” he said. “Well, there’s blocking and tackling in development. You have to go see people. You have to find out what their interests are. You have to be a good listener. You are not expecting to walk out with a gift. You are going there to find out why are they interested in Hillsdale.”
And preparation is always the key.
“We have a committed group of colleagues who do an exceptional job representing Hillsdale College. By and large, people give to people and give to ideas, so you have to be prepared,” he said. “It’s just like any sports team; you’ve got to communicate with your people. What are we working on? What is the mission? The main thing is that we work for the College, Dr. Arnn, and the board. They set the policies. And it’s just like a competitive event. You have to get out there. We know we have these markers, and we want to achieve those. It’s a privilege to represent Hillsdale College. And knock on wood, we’ve never had a case where we ended the year in a deficit situation.”
That’s a winning streak Cervini plans to continue.
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
