America East, Crons Announce Apparel Partnership - AmericaEast.com
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – America East student-athletes will be sporting a new logo at their championships in 2012-13, thanks to an agreement announced jointly today between the Conference and The Crons Brand®.
Crons has been designated as the “Official Apparel and Motivation Brand of America East Conference.” Besides providing apparel for the conference’s online merchandise store and conference championship merchandise sales, Crons will be official provider of student-athlete gifts at Conference Championships.
"We are excited and looking forward to this partnership with The Crons Brand," said America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen. "This partnership with Crons will not only help spread America East's brand by outfitting thousands of our student-athletes, but also aligns the conference with a company whose belief, that through hard work greatness can be achieved, meshes perfectly with America East's mission of developing champions via the student-athlete experience."
The Crons Brand, the Official Motivation Brand of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, is a Pittsburgh-based company that created its name as an acronym for the phrase “Come Ready or Never Start.” Crons was founded by Pat Cavanaugh, a nationally successful entrepreneur and former walk-on in the 1980s for the University of Pittsburgh basketball team who became a two-year captain while playing in the NCAA tournament three times.
“We look forward to this partnership with America East and especially its student-athletes,” said Crons President Pat Cavanaugh. “We’re a brand that promotes and values the special mentality it takes to be a competitor and a champion. Our involvement in the conference’s championships allows us to recognize this special Crons mentality that has driven many of these America East championship student-athletes.”
The America East is the sixth Division I conference partnership that Crons has forged over the last three years, representing 68 schools and 30,000 student-athletes. The brand also has relationships with the Atlantic 10, Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Atlantic Sun Conference.
About The Crons Brand
The Crons Brand provides high quality motivational apparel, merchandise, and accessories to inspire people to get better and constantly strive for their goals. It also strives to reinforce positive messages to athletes about what it takes to be a winner and the importance of working harder than anyone else in order to reach their full potential. Crons communicates this message through four separate product categories: Team Gear, Lifestyle Apparel, Nutritional Products, and School Programs.
Crons perpetuates its message through its Goals & Adversity Program, designed to instruct student-athletes in the importance of setting and achieving goals while overcoming adversity. The program focuses on fostering skills that will help young people set smart, measurable goals while learning how to best overcome inevitable adversities along the way-- leading to academic, personal and professional success. As part of its relationship with America East, Crons will integrate this program into future America East Student-Athlete Advisory Committee sessions.
About the America East Conference
Now in its fourth decade of operation, the America East Conference has evolved into one of the most comprehensive NCAA Division I conferences in the country with a commitment to broad-based, competitive athletics programs, complementing the academic integrity and missions of the member institutions.
Progressive in its approach to its more than 3,400 student-athletes, America East recognizes champions in each of its 20 sports. America East also conducts the nation’s most comprehensive academic recognition program for student-athletes and collaborates on several community service initiatives throughout its geographic footprint each year.
With members spanning from the Mid-Atlantic to Northeast regions of the United States, America East strives to develop champions in academics, athletics and leadership at its nine member institutions: University at Albany, Binghamton University, Boston University, University of Hartford, University of Maine, UMBC, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont.