Tempe High Buffaloes raised $9,000+ in one campaign season.
In Tempe, Arizona, Arizona Boosters Foundation has partnered with Coach Sean Freeman and Tempe High Buffaloes football since 2025. One campaign season raised more than $9,000 for uniforms, travel, and tournament fees — more than the program had raised in the two seasons before it — while ABF lined up sponsorships, team meals, and community support for varsity, junior varsity, and freshman football.
A Tempe program with history, and a season budget that still has gaps.
The Tempe High Buffaloes field varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams in Tempe, Arizona. They serve a diverse group of student-athletes in one of the state’s most competitive high school football landscapes. Buffalo football in this city is old: the program’s first official varsity season was 1924, and the tradition now stretches back more than a century. The community ties are why a Friday night here matters past the scoreboard.
Under Coach Sean Freeman, the work since 2025 has been to rebuild and stabilize that program. His approach blends accountability with mentorship. Players are expected to show up, work hard, and represent Tempe High with integrity on and off the field. That standard holds for the freshman roster as well as for varsity.
The resource gap is the practical one Arizona high school staffs know well. Equipment, uniforms, meals, travel, and tournament fees still have to be paid, and a school-district budget does not cover every line. Arizona Boosters Foundation identified Tempe High as a program with real need and real potential, and has been working to close the distance between a team that can take the field and a program that can keep developing athletes across a full season.
The standard on this staff: show up, work hard, and represent Tempe High with integrity on and off the field.
What Arizona Boosters Foundation and the Buffaloes did.
Arizona Boosters Foundation, Inc. is the Arizona 501(c)(3), EIN 39-3080525. For Tempe High, that role is the infrastructure around Coach Freeman’s staff. ABF identifies the funding gaps, runs community fundraising under the foundation, and connects local businesses to specific program needs — equipment, uniforms, meals, travel, and game-day operations — so the coaches can stay on football. Donations to ABF may be tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Programs raise under the foundation’s EIN, including teams that fundraise without a nonprofit of their own.
Strategic Nonprofit Support
ABF identifies funding gaps specific to the Tempe High program and aligns community resources to fill them — giving the coaching staff a partner that understands athletic program needs.
Corporate Sponsorships
We secure funding from local businesses and community partners to cover equipment, uniforms, meals, and operational expenses so the program can run at full capacity.
Fundraising Initiatives
One ABF campaign season in Tempe raised more than $9,000 for uniforms, travel, and tournament fees — more than the Buffaloes had raised in the two previous seasons combined. Community campaigns add a path next to the school-district budget.
Community Engagement
ABF works to increase visibility, game-day attendance, and volunteer participation — building the kind of community investment that sustains a program across seasons.
Program Operations
Team meals, special events, and game-day support are coordinated through the partnership, so athletes and coaches can keep the week focused on football.
Equitable Access
ABF advocates for football’s role in mentorship, academic accountability, and positive youth development — ensuring every student-athlete has access to the program regardless of financial background.
Long-Term Framework
The partnership is built for sustained growth — positioning Tempe High football for long-term community investment and continued development beyond any single season.
A second track sits beside the campaign. Richard Appel, owner of Dry Star Restoration, LLC, is one of ABF’s most significant donors. He and Dry Star have helped fund Tempe High’s Buffalo tunnel, team banquets, and player awards. That support is separate from the $9,000+ campaign total. It is the part of the partnership families can see when the Buffaloes run out, and again when the season ends.
Read how Dry Star Restoration is investing in Tempe High student-athletes.
What one Tempe campaign season produced.
These are the results Arizona Boosters Foundation has already published for Tempe High Buffaloes football. Where a number or a name is not on record, it is left off this page.
Raised in One Season
A single ABF campaign in Tempe brought in more than $9,000. The foundation lists that total on its impact notes and on Donor Alley.
Uniforms, Travel, Fees
The campaign addressed uniforms, travel budget, and tournament fees. ABF’s impact summary says those funds covered those three needs.
Than the Prior Two Seasons
The total was more than Tempe High football had raised in the two previous seasons combined.
Around that campaign, the partnership that started in 2025 has also covered corporate sponsorships, team meals, and community engagement for Coach Freeman’s program. Varsity, junior varsity, and freshman all remain part of the support. The Buffalo tunnel, season banquets, and player awards are the Dry Star Restoration side of the same Tempe relationship.
Why a Tempe football season matters for Arizona youth sports.
Tempe sits in the Valley, where high school football is a weekly civic event and also a stack of costs. A program that fields freshman, junior varsity, and varsity football is three rosters sharing one school identity. When a Tempe family or an Arizona business gives through Arizona Boosters Foundation, the gift is made to a 501(c)(3). It may be tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, and the school program does not have to form its own nonprofit first.
The $9,000+ season is a local result. It shows a Tempe high school staff using ABF to raise more in one campaign than in the two seasons before it, with the money aimed at uniforms, travel, and tournament fees. Beside that total, an Arizona donor — Dry Star Restoration — put support on the field and at the end-of-season banquet. Together those are two ways a city keeps a historic program in front of its own students.
For another Arizona coach, the shape is the same. Name the gap for this season. Start a campaign under the foundation. Ask the community to fund a specific need, whether that is travel, a meal, or the moment a team runs out together.
Related reading: Dry Star Restoration and Tempe High, ABF Updates, and Donor Alley.
Accountability. Mentorship. Culture.
Coach Sean Freeman’s approach to Tempe High football is grounded in three values the partnership is built to protect. ABF’s fundraising and sponsor work sits around that standard so the staff can keep it for the whole season.
Show Up. Work Hard.
Every day, every practice, every rep — players are held to a consistent standard of effort and personal responsibility. Discipline isn’t a rule; it’s the culture.
Accountability With Care
Coach Freeman blends accountability with genuine mentorship. Players aren’t just expected to perform on the field — they’re supported as students and as people.
On and Off the Field
Representing Tempe High means representing the community. Trust, resilience, and teamwork are the standard — both during competition and long after the final whistle.
Start a campaign, or help the Buffaloes from Tempe.
Arizona Boosters Foundation is securing sponsorships, fundraising, and community investment for Tempe High football. A business, a family, or another Arizona program can use the same path: start a campaign, or contact ABF about supporting the Buffaloes.
ABF: contact@arizonaboostersfoundation.org