Flutie Looms Tall as a Fund-Raiser for Children’s Charities

Four months ago, when quarterback Doug Flutie of the Buffalo Bills and Ty Ballou, president of PLB Sports, a Pittsburgh company that markets food products for athletes, came up with the idea for Flutie Flakes, Ballou suggested an initial production run of 50,000 boxes of the sugar-coated cereal. Flutie wanted 100,000.

“I told Doug that was being way too optimistic,” Ballou said.. “Really, I wasn’t sure about 50,000 boxes.”

As of Monday, 1.3 million boxes of Flutie Flakes have been ordered. An auction is underway for the 1 millionth box. You can put your bid in until Feb. 13 through either of two Internet sites, www.plbsports.com or www.sportingauction.com. Then there will be a live auction at the Super Show, a sporting goods show in Atlanta, the week of Feb. 13. Right now the highest bid for the box, which is autographed by Flutie, is $1,400.

“I would have bet the bank, and my company, based on what I knew last September, that the marinara sauce we’re doing for [Atlanta Brave pitcher] Tom Glavine would easily outdo the Flutie Flakes,” Ballou said. “There was not a doubt in my mind about that. Flutie has caught us off guard.”

The Flutie Flakes were conceived as a way to raise money for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the charity Flutie and his wife, Laurie, have instituted in honor of their 7-year-old son, who has autism.

Many NFL players are involved in charities. Former Bill quarterback Jim Kelly established Hunter’s Hope, a fund-raising foundation charged with helping find a cure for Krabbe’s disease, a fatal muscular affliction that Kelly’s 2-year-old son Hunter was born with.

Last week in New York, Kelly held the second “All-Star Evening for Hunter’s Hope.” The 1998 event raised $450,000 and Hunter’s Hope officials expect the 1999 affair to do even better. The Miami Dolphins’ Dan Marino, whose son, Michael, also has autism, spearheaded a fund-raising effort that resulted in the 20,000-square foot Miami Children’s Hospital Dan Marino Center.

In consultation with Michael’s doctor, Roberto Tuchman, the $3-million facility opened last March and is built to look like a playhouse. Inside there is room for physicians and specialists to deal with children who have autism, diabetes and other chronic medical conditions.

“To see something grow from the ground up and know it’s already making a difference in young kids’ lives makes this really special,” Marino said. Marino and his wife, Claire, came up with the idea as they saw how many doctors and medical personnel were needed to handle various parts of their son’s care.

Some charities are on a big scale. Some are just starting.

Paul Frase, a defensive end for the Baltimore Ravens, and his wife, Alison, whose son was born with myotubular myopathy, a rare and fatal muscle disorder, have recently started the Joshua Frase Foundation. It is dedicated to supporting research into the little-understood disorder that affects no more than 140 people worldwide and to help parents afford the special medical equipment needed to keep children comfortable and at home. The Frases think they’ve raised about $40,000.

An NFL spokeswoman estimates that “several hundred” NFL players sponsor charities. Last year the NFL contributed $1 million to 64 NFL player charities.

But nothing has taken off as quickly as Flutie Flakes.

It is amazing, Marc Pollick said, the power of an athlete when it comes to fund-raising.

Pollick is president of the Giving Back Fund, an organization that helps athletes run charitable foundations. One is the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the people that Doug affects,” Pollick said. “We got $990 from a fourth-grade class in Buffalo where the kids, instead of getting Christmas gifts for their friends, collected the money for Doug Jr. We got $12,000 from a man in Los Angeles who was touched by Doug’s sincerity. We get envelopes with two dollar bills from 91-year-old ladies who just love Doug and then $20,000 from Rosie O’Donnell.

“If only all athletes understood the impact they have.”

Because Flutie has always been seen as the undersized but big-hearted overachiever on the football field, he seems to be a natural salesman.

But when the Flutie Flakes were first coming into production, the Bills were 0-3 and Flutie was a backup quarterback.

Most of the country knows the rest. Starting quarterback Rob Johnson got hurt, Flutie stepped in and led the Bills to seven consecutive victories and into the playoffs.

“The way the season went, I think that was a big part of the success of the Flakes,” Ballou said. “When we launched the Flakes and the Bills were 0-3, and Doug was the backup, it looked like that 50,000-box mark would be hard to hit. But Doug is like no other quarterback in the league. He is short, he scrambles. A lot of people identify with him. It’s how every little boy and girl in the backyard plays.”

Flutie Flakes are for sale at supermarkets in Western New York and the Boston area, where the Fluties have their home. The Flakes are also available by calling a toll-free number through the Bills. Ballou said that the Bills are selling 500-750 boxes a week, at $4 a box, even now during the off-season.

In the grocery store the price is $2.99. Ballou wouldn’t say what percentage of the profits Flutie receives from the sale of the flakes, but Flutie puts all that money into the foundation. So far the sale of the cereal has grossed more than $4 million.

Based on the success of the cereal, plans are under way for a chocolate candy bar filled with Flutie Flakes. Also, according to Pollick, Laurie Flutie is helping design and launch a line of children’s clothing that will bear Doug Jr.’s name.

“No matter what you hear about athletes,” Pollick said, “there is still a strong identification with them as heroes.”

Flutie doesn’t think of himself as a hero. He says that he and Laurie are doing all this only for their son and for other sons and daughters. It is expensive to raise an autistic child and “not all families are as blessed with the financial resources to deal with this as we are.”

Last week, Flutie and a band that he plays in with his brother and some friends performed at the Hunter’s Hope fund-raiser.

When Flutie signed with the Bills last spring, he gave half his $25,000 signing bonus to Hunter’s Hope and the other half to his own son’s new foundation.

“Jim gave us the idea to start the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation and we’ve been close through the years,” Flutie said. “As you can see, there’s a fraternity of quarterbacks that go out of their way to support each other.”