“We miss him so much every day. He believed in this country and what it means to be an American. I am so proud of my father. I have started a new journey in my life. Since my grandparents have died, I have been reaching out to my parents’ friends. I have been in contact with some of them and am so excited to continue my journey in life to keep my dad’s memory alive.”
More ways to engage in gift giving
Here, you can learn more about additional programs needing your support.
While the Air Force Academy benefits from a broad range of programming initiatives, these specialized efforts have an equally powerful impact on the Cadet Wing. Your continued support sustains these uniquely personal and athletic memorial funds and endowments that directly enhance the cadet experience. Explore how these meaningful initiatives make a difference.
Lt. Hal Henderson ‘67 Ice Hockey Endowment
Support Falcon hockey
The Lt. Hal Henderson ‘67 Ice Hockey Endowment covers the annual cost of the Most Valuable Player award at the cadet awards banquet. The remainder of the funds disbursed annually are used by the coaching staff to support travel, equipment, nutrition, facility improvements and other program needs. The endowment honors Hal Henderson, who was killed in Vietnam on August 2, 1969.
Hal and Margo Henderson of Bozeman, Montana, dated throughout his cadet years. Hal joined what was then the club hockey team. Margo would watch him through the cracks between her fingers as she covered her eyes because he was such a physical, fierce competitor on the ice.
After Hal’s death, Margo returned to Bozeman. She has followed Air Force hockey and has paid for the annual MVP award for 50+ years. The Henderson award means everything to her family. Her daughter, Lisa, will carry on this tradition.
The Dennis P. Rando Cadet Humanitarian Fund
Honoring Cadet 1st Class Dennis P. Rando
The Rando Fund is named in honor of Cadet 1st Class Dennis P. Rando, one of several cadets in the 1990s who perished before graduating. When an honor guard of his classmates had to pay for their travel expenses to his memorial service, a group of Massachusetts parents founded the Rando Fund. Since 1997, the Rando Fund has raised private support to provide the means for cadets to travel to represent the Academy at services of their fallen colleagues. In 2012, the Air Force Academy Foundation assumed the collection and management of these gifts, with no change to the Rando Fund mission.
In addition to providing free travel for a cadet honor guard in the event of a fellow cadet's passing, the Rando Fund also provides need-based financial support to cadets who may not have the resources to travel home during emergencies such as a death in their family, a serious family illness or injury to a family member. Cadets with financial need are granted all or part of the travel expenses. Determinations as to the necessity for a cadet to travel home as well as the assessment of a cadet’s financial need is made by the cadet chaplain’s office in conjunction with the cadet’s AOC and the commandant’s office.
Give NowHistory
The Rando Fund was the result of the tragic circumstances surrounding the passing of several Air Force Academy cadets in the mid 1990s, including Cadet 1st Class Dennis P. Rando of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. At his funeral, when it was learned that the cadets who traveled to Massachusetts to honor their classmate and to represent all cadets and cadet families did so at their own personal expense, the USAFA Cadets Parents’ Association of Eastern Massachusetts, under the leadership of then president and Rando Fund founder Bob Caggiano, made a request to other cadet families to donate funds to help reimburse the cadets for their travel.
The response to this request was so tremendous that the Massachusetts Parents’ Association decided that establishing an ongoing fundraising initiative to continue this kind of support for all cadets would be a most worthwhile endeavor. They named the fund in Dennis’ honor as they felt that this would be a most appropriate manner to honor his memory and sacrifice.
The Academy’s superintendent at the time, Lt. Gen. Paul Stein '66, recognized the value of this kind of cadet support and asked that the Rando Fund become a national fundraising effort, as the Academy's budget does not have the resources to provide for this type of travel. The Air Force and the Academy fully support the Rando Fund and have officially recognized it and its mission.
In August 2012, the Rando Fund became an affiliate of the Air Force Academy Foundation (formerly the USAFA Endowment). Because the Rando Fund’s advisory board volunteers their time to this cause and because the Foundation assumes all the Rando Fund’s administrative costs, the Rando Fund is able to dedicate 100% of every donation to supporting its missions. Every cadet at the Academy is a potential beneficiary of your support.
Falcon rugby funds
Support our teams
Help preserve Air Force Rugby's 50-year tradition of excellence by supporting the program's success for the next 50 years.
You can support both teams through their operational funds or their perpetual endowment funds. A gift to the operational fund is used to support current year needs, including travel and competition costs.
Perpetual fund gifts will be placed in an endowment to support the long-term stability of each team. Each year, 4.5% of the principal of each perpetual fund is transferred to the Academy to be used for the team’s annual budget needs.
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Wayne Baughman Wrestling Program Endowment
Wayne Baughman:
U.S. Air Force Academy wrestling vision
The Wayne Baughman Wrestling Program Endowment's mission is to produce leaders of character and integrity prepared for combat as officers in the U.S. Air Force and Space Force and to live a championship lifestyle that enhances the growth and development of NCAA and Big 12 podium-prepared athletes. Sustainable funding helps the Academy's wrestling program maintain excellence. A USAFA wrestling team endowment, established in 2016, provides permanent annual funding to support competitive fees, travel, equipment, recruiting expenses and coaching excellence. To date, donors have contributed more than $76,000 to the endowment, with another $70,000 committed through future estate planned gifts. The goal is to raise $1.5 million.
The Wayne Baughman Wrestling Program Endowment priorities include:
- Provide a perpetual funding source to support current and future generations of wrestler-leader graduates as career officers in the Air Force and Space Force.
- Generate an annual revenue stream to ensure Falcon wrestlers are increasingly competitive.
- Ensure three full-time coaches, the maximum allowed by the NCAA, and other support positions.
- Support high-level competition and additional wrestler development opportunities for the entire roster.
- Recruit the best possible prospective cadet-athletes.
- Support maintenance and upgrade of the current world-class wrestling program facility.
Wayne Baughman:
An American wrestling legend
Wayne Baughman’s wrestling career and achievements span four decades. As a competitor in collegiate, service and international competitions, he:
- was a member of three Olympic teams, eight World Championship teams and one Pan American team.
- competed in 25 U.S. national championships, including 16 first-place, seven second-place and two third-place finishes.
- is the only U.S. wrestler to have won a national championship in all four recognized styles (collegiate, freestyle, Greco-Roman and sambo).
- Was inducted into the USA Wrestling and Helms-US Savings National Halls of Fame as a competitor; and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
As a 27-year head coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Baughman’s teams racked up impressive stats, including:
- 183 dual meet wins.
- A 10-1 season for the 1992-93 Falcons, matching Coach Karl Kitt’s 1971 record for the program’s highest single-season winning percentage.
- Three NCAA All-Americans including a two-time All-American and NCAA finalist.
- Two four-time NCAA qualifiers.
- Five MIWA champions.
- Sixteen WAC champions.
- Six Western Regional champions.