Vince DeGrado is tackling his newest career venture at Allen Community College with much the same fervor he carried during his lengthy, and highly successful, coaching career — “all gas and no brakes.”
DeGrado relinquished his coaching duties as head cross country coach and assistant for the Red Devil track and field team in order to become Allen’s director of advancement in January. Essentially, he is now the college’s chief fundraiser.
Since then, DeGrado helped organize induction ceremonies for the 2026 class of the ACC Athletics Hall of Fame in February; led an effort to recover lists of Allen alumni that had been lost; and began the never-ending saga of reaching out to potential donors.
DeGrado was a few weeks into his new job when he decided on his most ambitious venture yet: to arrange a scholarship gala before the end of the school year.
“Somebody said you really need more than 12 or 16 weeks to put one of these together,” DeGrado said Tuesday.
“We talked about waiting until the next school year, but I thought, ‘Why not?’” he continued. “We’re not going to accomplish anything if we don’t have anything planned.”
DeGrado’s driving focus since mid-February is organizing Friday’s 2026 Red Devil Gala, at 415 W. Madison Ave. in Iola, a fundraiser to raise scholarship dollars for students.
“The Red Devil Gala is more than a night of entertainment — it’s an investment in our students and their futures,” DeGrado said. “The proceeds from this event help to remove financial barriers and create opportunities for students to pursue their education.”
Doors open at 5 p.m., with a meet-and-greet, followed by dinner at 6 o’clock.
A dessert dash follows at 6:45, a live auction starts at 7, and dueling pianos from Rock It Man begin at 8 o’clock. The Allen Choir will perform as well.
The event culminates with the announcement of silent auction winners at 9:30 p.m.
There are several prime items up for bid in a silent auction, including getaway vacation packages to Chicago and Nashville, Kansas Children’s Discovery Center passes, Wichita Thunder passes, a Bobby Witt Jr. autographed baseball bat and other signed Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs memorabilia. Online bidding opened Wednesday.
The live auction items — bidding for those won’t begin until the gala starts — are certain to fetch a pretty penny as well, from a night at the famed Las Vegas Sphere, to a signed George Brett Pine Tar Game photograph, a signed, used bat from Royals catcher Salvador Perez, and a helmet autographed by Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.
DeGrado was pleasantly surprised by the response from those contributing items for the auctions.
“That made me feel a lot better,” he said. “I didn’t want to just throw something together just to try to make money. I want this to be an event where, if you are giving us your hard-earned money, you should get something out of it, too.”
Advance tickets to the gala sell for $25 or are $30 at the door. Tickets and auction items are available at www.allencc.edu/community/alumni.
