BATON ROUGE — Members of several of LSU’s athletics teams participated in the Tiger autograph session for “Parent’s Weekend” near the Union on Saturday morning.
Teams including the softball, gymnastics, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s track and swimming signed autographs for incoming freshmen and their families in Free Speech Alley. A total of 260 people participated in the Parent’s Weekend brunch and autograph session, which was sponsored by the University College.
The student-athletes participated in the event as part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program. The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/ Life Skills Program at LSU honored one of the Tigers’ most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.