Algoma Steel hands off $65K to Sault College for new football gear, athletic scholarships

Algoma Steel will be providing $65,000 for Sault College’s athletics program over the next five years.

The funding was announced at a gathering held at Sault College Tuesday morning by Paul Orazietti, Sault College director of athletics and Sault College Cougars football team head coach.

Michael Garcia, Algoma Steel chief executive officer and David Orazietti, Sault College president were in attendance and joined by Sault College Cougars athletes and college staff.

$25,000 will go to purchasing helmets, jerseys and other gear for the new Sault College Cougars football team that is set to begin its first season of play in the fall of 2025.

Algoma Steel’s logo will be included on the team’s jerseys and helmets.

The balance of $40,000 will go to scholarships for four Sault College athletes in each of the next four years - $2,500 per student.

The scholarships will be awarded each year to an outstanding local athlete, Indigenous athlete, female athlete and an athlete enrolled in skilled trades training who meet athletic and academic requirements.

The scholarships will be awarded to athletes in football, women’s volleyball, men’s baseball, golf and curling.  

In turn, Sault College has provided 250 season tickets for Algoma Steel employees to attend Sault College Cougars varsity sports home games.

“We’ve signed players for football (for the fall of 2025). There are 10 from Sault Ste. Marie, 10 from out of town and from those 10 from out of town there are four internationals from Australia,” athletics director Paul Orazietti told SooToday.

“For now it’s on hold,” college president David Orazietti told reporters when asked about the college’s plans for an on-campus multi-sport artificial turf field, track and field house to serve as a home for Sault College football.

“It is important infrastructure that the college needs to move forward with but it’s not something at this point we can move forward with given our budgetary challenges.”

“The new residence building remains a priority for our campus,” Orazietti said, adding that it may be possible to start construction on the residence building in early 2025. 

The football team will be playing its first season - at least - at Rocky DiPietro Field, Paul Orazietti said. 

“In today’s highly competitive postsecondary college sports world to be successful you need to recruit the best players and coaches and need to support them with good facilities and scholarships,” Paul Orazietti told Tuesday’s audience regarding Algoma Steel’s gift.

“An athletic department’s ability to raise and generate funds directly correlates to any potential success they will find on the field, in the gym or on the ice. Enhanced funding and scholarships will allow us to attract some of our best young local talent as well as athletes from around the province.”

“The life-changing lessons and the experiences that your college athletes will be having in college are going to serve them well in other arenas, in other pursuits, whether they continue with their athletic career after Sault College or if they move on to do fantastic things in the world in whatever profession they choose,” Algoma Steel CEO Garcia said.

“Algoma Steel has been there for us for years in terms of scholarships,” college president David Orazietti said.

“Today’s event is really exciting because we’re going to be starting a program (football team) in the fall of 2025. I understand we’re getting some great uptake in our recruitment for our football team. We have not had football in Sault Ste. Marie at the postsecondary level. It will be the first, in a new league,” Orazietti said.

Women’s volleyball will be another new addition to Sault College varsity sports in the fall of 2025.