Charity Stripe: More Efforts On Behalf Of Virginia Tech

NASCAR drivers and Virginia natives Ward Burton and Eric McClure will wear specially-designed helmets paying tribute to Virginia Tech during this weekend’s Nextel Cup Crown Royal 400 and Busch Series Circuit City 250, respectively, at Richmond Int’l Raceway (RIR). McClure said that he “plans to wear the helmet for the remainder of this season” (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 5/1). RIR will feature a VT logo on the infield grass and a VT flag will be flown into the infield before Saturday’s Nextel Cup race by a member of a professional parachute jumping team (ROANOKE TIMES, 5/2)....The Virginia Tech team of football coach Frank Beamer and former basketball player Dell Curry donated their $100,000 prize for winning the inaugural Chick-fil-A Bowl Alma Mater golf tournament to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which benefits families of the April 16 massacre (WASHINGTON POST, 5/2). The MLS Dynamo raised over $16,000 for the fund in an online auction of the maroon jerseys they wore against the Fire last week (N.Y. TIMES, 5/2).

Alexander And Wife Donate $50,000 During Fox’ “Idol Gives Back”

GIVING BACK: Former MLBer Dale Murphy, who has launched a foundation called I Won’t Cheat that “aspires to keep children from using performance-enhancing drugs,” said that he has “discussed his goal for I Won’t Cheat with representatives from MLB and the NBA.” Murphy is producing a 15- or 20-minute DVD, in which he “wants to maintain the balance between facts and entertainment so it keeps kids awake without coming off as preachy.” He “plans on presenting it to four or five schools in Utah, then doing the same in Georgia and his home state of Oregon, before hitting up companies for national sponsorship” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/30)....Last week’s “Idol Gives Back” episode of Fox’ “American Idol” raised more than $60M, including a $50,000 contribution from Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander and his wife, Valerie (USA TODAY, 5/2)....MLB, the Mets and KeySpan teamed to give the Bedford-Stuyvesant Little League a “secure place to store their equipment” after vandals “stole and trashed the league’s equipment last fall” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/30).