Creativity? Check. Passion? Check. Consistency? Check.

If you had to list the attributes Donna Hays brought to her 25 years in the Idaho State athletic department, you could start with all three. But you still wouldn’t touch her biggest gift — she’s always been a Bengal at heart.

“I grew up in Pocatello, and I was eight or ten years old the first time I went to the Spud Bowl with my dad,” said Hays, who recently retired as director of the Bengal Athletic Boosters. “We had to walk to the game and we had to sit on Red Hill because my dad wouldn’t buy a ticket. That was my first game and I’ve been a Bengal fan ever since.”

Even after a brief detour to Boise, where she worked in the restaurant business for a few years, Hays returned to Southeast Idaho in the mid-1980s and has been a critical part of supporting Idaho State athletics ever since.

It began with 10 years as a volunteer board member of what was then known as the Bengal Foundation. She was later hired by the ISU athletic department — first as marketing director, then to manage the foundation when John Coliani retired — and has been raising money for athletic scholarships ever since.

“I’ve worked for five athletic directors, five head football coaches, five head basketball coaches and somehow I survived all that,” Hays said.

One key to her ‘survival’ is the passion and attention to detail she brought to whatever fundraising event she was master-minding at the time.

“Some people just do their job and fill a role,” said Idaho State Athletic Director Pauline Thiros. “Donna has never done that. She committed herself to building and caring for a community. For decades, she gave Bengal athletics far more than time and elbow grease. She gave it heart and soul. Every event, late nights, every detail nobody else thought about carried her fingerprints and her care.”

When Hays took over the Bengal Foundation, the organization’s primary event was its annual auction fundraiser. Over time, Hays and the Bengal Auction became inseparable.

“She always dressed according to the theme of the auction,” said Deb Thompson, who served on the foundation and BAB board for 25 years and was instrumental in persuading Hays to join the athletic department staff. “She knew just exactly what to wear. Her excitement and her energy got everyone else to feel that excitement.”

Of the 44 annual auctions held to raise money for athletic scholarships, Hays has been part of 35 — either as a volunteer or as foundation and BAB director. Even after formally retiring earlier this year, she couldn’t give up being part of the auction.

“It’s just amazing what this community does,” said Hays, singling out Phil and Bekki Meador, who have regularly donated use of their car dealership for the event. “Last year was the record and we beat it by five grand this year. We grossed a little over $120,000 and with all the great donations and me begging people, we’re going to net $108,500. That’s pretty good.”

Running an annual auction wasn’t enough to satisfy Hays’ creative drive. Thompson credited her with developing the split-the-pot fundraiser, reserved RV parking spots for football tailgating and the expansion of the annual Bengal Golf Tournament to the Boise area. Even unlikely ideas became opportunities.

“There was a little storage area in Holt Arena (now ICCU Arena), it was a scary area,” Thompson said. “We’d go in and organize it and Donna started pulling off old athletes’ jerseys. We started to auction them off. That’s something people like, getting a jersey.”

Mike Calley, a former Bengal linebacker involved with the foundation and BAB since 1989, said Hays also launched the Quarterback Club to generate discretionary funding for the football program.

“That created a whole new avenue of donating, of having funds going to football above and beyond scholarships,” Calley said. “It finally gave the coaches funding that allowed them to use it for various projects, needs that they had.”

Hays recalled how the Quarterback Club came about — the first of what later became individualized support organizations for many ISU sports teams.

“(Former ISU Vice President) Kent Tingey said to me, ‘I have a project for you,’ “ Hays recalled. “He said I want you to raise $100,000 for football. So, I started the Quarterback Club and I raised $80,000 for football that year. I was a little short, but he said that’s close enough.”

She also worked with the owners of Pinehurst Nursery to create the now-annual scarecrow auction.

“A single night can raise over $20,000 — that’s a pretty good night,” Calley said.

Two football-related projects stand out as among her biggest fundraising wins. The first was soliciting donors to remodel the football locker room.

“We sold every single locker,” Hays said. “Some to former players, we dedicated one to (former trainer) Phil Luckey. Steve and I and Kerry have our own locker,” she said of her husband and son. “That was really a nice project that was a lot of money.”

The second grew from the friendship Hays and her family built with former Idaho State All-American and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jared Allen — a complete remodel of the weight room used by football and other sports.

“That was Jared’s huge gift,” Hays said. “That meant a lot to me. I went down to Arizona to visit with him and he said, ‘You know, I never spent a lot of time in the weight room, but I really wanted to help out.’ “

Allen said his continued giving is a direct reflection of his relationship with Hays.

“As far as alumni engagement, she’s the only reason I continue to donate through the ups and downs,” Allen said. “She’s always been a consistent voice. She genuinely cares about athletics as a whole. She understands where people’s hearts are, and where a dollar can make the most impact.”

Hays and her husband Steve have also invested personally in the athletic department, establishing an endowment fund for athlete nutrition. Allen contributed as well, the United Dairymen invested, and the fund has grown to more than $100,000.

“I’ve been a member of every single sport club, which we continue to do,” Hays said. “Helping every student, in my opinion, was the way to go. Football has their regular donors and basketball, but the Olympic sports need our help too.”

In something of a full-circle moment, ISU hired Natalie Chase as team nutritionist. Hays, who grew up on Chase Street, went to school with Natalie’s father, Paul Chase.

It probably goes without saying that even though she’s retired, Hays, 73, will still be an enthusiastic supporter of Bengal athletics.

“I’m really looking forward to just being a Bengal fan,” she said. “Enjoying my grandson and my family. I just had a retirement party recently, and I did all the centerpieces on everything I’m going to do — rewrite my cookbook, play golf, go camping and fishing, happy hour, play with (my grandson) Harrison, walk the dog — everything I do now — only I don’t have to fill out a timecard.”

Idaho State has hired Lance Ririe from Sam Houston State as assistant athletic director for annual giving and events, where he will take on many of Hays’ former responsibilities.

“Generations of athletes, coaches and fans may never fully realize how much of what they love about the Bengals existed because Donna quietly made it happen,” Thiros said.