Former South Carolina middle distance runner David Olds (2018-2022) has turned serving others into a career. Now he’s being recognized for it. Olds is one of this year’s recipients of the Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award for his work as a partnership specialist at Good Sports in Boston, which is a national sports charity that donates new sports equipment to youth organizations and schools in low-income communities.
“I work with a variety of professional teams, brands, and equipment manufacturers that contribute to our mission,” said olds, who graduated from South Carolina in 2022 with degrees in political science and geography. “Since 2003, Good Sports has donated over $120 million in new gear to 10 million kids in all fifty states. I’ve been here for three years now, and it’s a lot of fun. I really love this job. A lot of people use their first job as a leapfrog position, but I’ve found a lot of fulfillment and a lot of joy in this work. It speaks to me because sports were always a big part of my life growing up.
“It’s troubling to me that some kids can’t play sports simply because they can’t afford to pay for equipment or fees. I knew I wanted to be in philanthropy, and I wanted to intersect that with sports. All signs pointed to Good Sports in that way. What’s really cool is that so much of what I talk about at Good Sports and the benefits of playing sports is really my story as well with all the things I learned running track in middle school, high school, and in college.”
The Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award was established in 2017 and has become one of the most competitive and prestigious awards in the business of sports.
“The Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award recognizes the most promising 25 and unders across the sports industry,” said Olds, who was the 2022 SEC Brad Davis Male Community Service Leader of the Year honoree. “I wanted to build a body of work and a resume of impact that would allow me to be considered for something like this. When I found out I was being recognized, it was a crazy feeling. I was thrilled. I’m just so grateful that they thought of me for it.”
Olds’ commitment to serving others is nothing new. In high school, he founded “Wiley’s Warriors” to raise awareness of childhood hunger and organized food drives in the area. At South Carolina, Olds was the Community Service Chair for the Gamecock Athletics Student-Athlete Advisory Council (S.A.A.C) and was the lead…