Chilly Cowboy creator Chelsea Fitzgerald gets splashed with a bucket of water by OSU mascot Pistol Pete while First Cowboy Darren Shrum laughs.

Chilly Dippin’: MBA alum Chelsea Fitzgerald leads the effort to raise money for Oklahoma Special Olympics

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Media Contact: Terry Tush | Director, Marketing and Communications | 405-744-2703 | terry.tush@okstate.edu

Chelsea Fitzgerald, a Spears School of Business alumna and former Oklahoma State University softball player, was looking for an opportunity in her final year as a leave a legacy for generations to come.

The Cowgirl outfielder and MBA graduate didn’t have to look far for inspiration. Fitzgerald’s younger brother, Caden, provided just the spark she needed to formulate a plan. Caden was born when Fitzgerald was 9 and was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The diagnosis changed her and her family’s life forever and spurred her involvement with Special Olympics around the age of 10. Seeing what an impact the organization made on her and her brother’s lives, Fitzgerald has always desired to support it as much as possible.

By happenstance, she found herself having a conversation with OSU First Cowboy Darren Shrum after a Bible study and found that Shrum shared the same passion for supporting those with intellectual disabilities. She pitched her idea of hosting a polar plunge at OSU in support of Special Olympics Oklahoma to Shrum. He was immediately all in.

Together, the two took Fitzgerald’s vision and made it a $130,000+ reality. In fall 2021, Fitzgerald and Shrum announced OSU’s polar plunge event, the Chilly Cowboy. The event is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for Special Olympics Oklahoma. The Chilly Cowboy also partners with Special Olympics’ Unified college program, which connects OSU students to individuals with intellectual disabilities through shared experiences.

Fitzgerald knew OSU was the right environment to host the Chilly Cowboy because of its supportive fan base, alumni, donors and students. OSU has hosted the summer Special Olympics at the Stillwater campus for the past four decades. Due to the school’s longstanding advocacy for the Cowboy family to embrace the event.

“I knew that this community would support it because that’s the type of people that we have here at OSU,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald’s status as a student-athlete meant it was a no-brainer to get OSU Athletics involved. It has been in full support of the event since its inception and has partnered with the men’s basketball team to host the Chilly Cowboy Auction during halftimes for the past three years. In addition, student-athletes from various sports take the plunge in support.

Marketing department head Tom Brown laughs after being dunked into the cold water at the Chilly Cowboy. — Dr. Tom Brown, the department head of the OSU School of Marketing and International Business, smiles after taking his turn in the Chilly Cowboy dunk tank.

Several OSU celebrities took the plunge this year. OSU Police Chief Leon Jones and running back Ollie Gordon II even jumped into the frigid water together. The First Cowboy, OSU Athletics Director Chad Weiberg, and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Jerome Loughridge all dove into the chilly water. For Spears, professor Tom Brown, head of the School of Marketing and International Business, took the plunge.

The first Chilly Cowboy surpassed the $10,000 goal and brought in over $30,000 for Special Olympics Oklahoma. The second year, over $50,000 was raised. This year’s event has garnered over $50,000 and counting. Fitzgerald makes it a point that the event requires the whole community to be involved and the success is due to the supportive family at OSU.

Fitzgerald is now a business development associate for Cowboy Technologies within The Innovation Foundation at OSU. She has been inspired to see the growth of the polar plunge so far and is preparing for future expansion of the event.

Her ambitious vision for the Chilly Cowboy’s future has an intentionality to stay focused on the goal of supporting Caden and all those with intellectual disabilities.

“I continue to remind myself that we’re 3 years old,” she said. “As an event, we’re still relatively new. But we want to see this well into the future. It is important to me to keep this going long after I am here. I want this to outlast me, and I want it to outlast Darren.”

Story by: Avery Russell | Engage@Spears magazine
Photos by: Adam Luther and Gary Lawson