It was an invitation four years in the making.

Or, more accurately, four years in the avoiding.

That’s how long it took to wear down an old couch potato, get him out of his comfort chair, and take a trip through time.

There had been several conspirators in this kidnapping of sorts.

There was the athletic director who yapped about what I was missing. The former basketball coach made it his mission to drag an aching body out on an off night.

And then there was the new women’s coach, who, for some reason, believed it was her job to pick up where the former men’s coach left off.

So, enough.

You have to know when you’ve lost. The game was up, and the only way for the madness to end was for me and the Misses to attend what was billed as the party of the century.

Strange, though. If this is the fourth such event in four years, the centuries are getting shorter and shorter.

Anyway, last Saturday night, there we were, all dressed up and with someplace to go. Gatsby is McNeese State’s biggest athletic fundraising event each year.

It is a tribute to the book “The Great Gatsby,” of course.

The fancy shindig had it all, including dancers on stilts, which amazed me since I can hardly dance on two feet.

I’ll admit that I liked the ’80s band whose lead guitarist was dressed as the main character in “Teen Wolf.” I’m not sure that had much to do with the Roaring ’20s, but I can’t do the Charleston either, so he was OK by me.

I appreciated the music from my college days.

By all accounts, the night was a big hit, but most importantly, it shows how much McNeese athletics has grown over the past five years.

No longer is it the old beg-for-a-buck mentality with each head coach pinching pennies and dancing for their own dollars.

Gatsby is a high-profile, big-donor night that celebrates just how far this school has come. This is how the big boys do things, and McNeese wants to be at least a bigger boy than it is.

To do that, you need money and partners. Those partners bring the money. It all goes around and is connected.

A large portion of those in the room were new to the process of giving to athletics. Fresh money has flowed into the program since the current McNeese brass became open for business.

This group changed the way business is done. It was no longer a quick handshake while holding a giant check. This group has entered into a partnership with the community in an effort to turnaround a sick program, if not save a dying one.

When they feel like partners, and not merely donors, folks are far more willing to contribute.

Give them a nice party in a big room with fancy clothes to make them feel special, and their wallets open up even more.

And that, after all, is the real objective of The Gatsby.

It’s a party where McNeese folks create partners and which leads to more giving.

After finally giving in, I plan to take three more years off until we do again.

That is, if the wife doesn’t join in the conspiracy.
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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com