Big donation comes with amazing tale

Published online on Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2009

Well you show up to one of these Fresno State "major announcement" news conferences thinking they're going to declare grass is green or the home football opener a "big game," and instead you get a whopper.

And what's more, it comes with an amazing story.

A couple of years ago, a former Fresno State football player named Alphonso Bigelow started a company -- Nykel Bam International LLC -- and on Tuesday it was announced that his company is giving the Fresno State athletics department $10 million.

The Bulldogs are determined to play with Ohio State and Texas, and this is a massive donation on a Buckeyes- and Longhorns-type level. It is supposed to finish, or completely fund, four different building projects, not to mention $2 million in scholarships.

Massive donations usually fall under one of two categories: 1) A really, really rich person like Nike chairman Phil Knight, who delivers money by the barge-full to the Oregon Ducks, or T. Boone Pickens, the oil man who is famously and unapologetically trying to buy Oklahoma State championships with $300 million in gifts. And 2) People who leave it in their wills.

Bigelow is neither, not even close. He is 35 years old, still built like the linebacker he was in the mid-'90s, married with two cute-as-homemade-stockings kids. He messed up a knee at Fresno State, was never quite the same after that and figured there was no sense chasing dreams through the minor leagues of football.

He lives in a house most two-income families could afford. His little office is in the same building where I once dropped off rent checks.

His story, simply put, is hard to believe. That doesn't mean it isn't true, it's just a crazy story. There's no other way to say it.

"I wanted to keep this whole thing a secret," Bigelow said. "I just wanted to donate the money and walk away. I don't want to make it a big deal. I wish that it wasn't a big deal. I'm excited for the university, and being able to help student-athletes. I'm just not excited about all the press. I would like for it to happen, and for them to get $10 million without anyone knowing. That's what I would prefer."

Ah, but the largest donation in the history of the Fresno State athletic department is going to draw some attention. Especially when it's by a former athlete who didn't make it big in professional sports, and now owns a company hardly anyone has heard of.

So here's the story: A few years ago, Bigelow owned local group homes. He had a master's degree in business from Fresno State, so he was trying to do some brokering on the side. He flew to Hong Kong to try to complete a gold transaction, but couldn't get it done.

While at a cocktail party in Hong Kong, he started talking to an elderly man from London, who took a liking to him and started mentoring him on the ways of international brokering.

Bigelow did not tell this story at the news conference Tuesday, partly because he wants to keep his business and the details of how he makes money as private as possible. ("I don't need more competition," he says.) And, frankly, it would have been too much to explain. Maybe too much to believe.

The unnamed man from London got him started, introduced him to the people who are now the board of directors for Nykel Bam LLC.

Says Bigelow: "I facilitate private commodities transactions, and we take commissions. We're an international company, and we prefer not to be public. Not a chance. We're not even on the Internet. We don't even have a Web site."

He says the board of directors came to him this year and said they needed to give away $10 million for tax purposes. He could choose to whom. Bigelow says that he and all the board members have a goal to someday give away 80% of Nykel Bam's earnings.

"I don't really know how to explain it," he says. "How much money do you really need to survive? How much is enough?"

Fresno State sports needs a lot. And it's never enough. And for its sake, I hope this is real.