Third of an five-part series

At Penn State and a growing number of other schools with elite athletic programs, it is now possible for donors to endow the starting quarterback or point-guard position the same way a donor would endow a chair for a renowned professor of humanities.

And these donors get the same tax breaks.

Last year, Kenton and Audrey Broyles agreed to underwrite two endowments totaling $500,000 at Penn State – one for middle linebacker and the other for"setters" on the women's volleyball team. The couple, from Waynesboro in Franklin County, had previously endowed a wrestling scholarship for a smaller amount.

"We're not Penn State graduates, but we have always enjoyed the school and going to different sporting events," said Kenton Broyles, a football season-ticket holder since 1968. "It's a way of giving something back."

The Broyleses will continue to collect the income from the endowment until they die. Then the interest will belong to Penn State.

"We get the income for now," said Kenton Broyles, a 69-year-old retired guidance counselor. "But it's irrevocable. The money is theirs.

"We also get some tax deduction off of it. That's the incentive – to get some tax deduction now. After we're gone, we won't need any tax deduction."

As of this spring, Penn State had a total of 21 endowed scholarships, including 16 for positions on the football team. The minimum that supporters can give is $25,000. The maximum is $250,000, but that will likely go up as the cost of running the athletic department rises.

Assuming that Penn State earns a 10-percent return, a $250,000 endowment would produce $25,000 annually. Half of that would be plowed back into the principal, leaving $12,500 for the athletic scholarship.

That's not enough to cover tuition, room, board and books for an out-of-state athlete. Still, it helps. And Penn State is pushing to endow as many of its approximately 400 athletic scholarships as possible.

"Theoretically, our goal is to endow all scholarships, but we're a long ways from that," said John Powell, the school's director of development for athletics.

The economic benefit to the athletic department is potentially huge. Endowments help cover one of the fixed costs in the budget – athletic scholarships – while freeing other funds for spiraling coaches' salaries, overhead and other costs.

Penn State hosts an annual dinner for donors and allows them to name their scholarship endowments. The Broyles' football endowment is known as the Audrey and Kenton Broyles Endowed Scholarship for Middle Linebackers. That only seems fitting for a school known as Linebacker U.