Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Eastern alum Tony Romo signed a five-year, $67.5 million extension earlier this season. About six weeks later, the Pro-Bowler was already giving back.

Romo donated $100,000 to Eastern on Dec. 20th to the athletic department and communication studies department. Of the $100,000, $75,000 is going to the athletic department and $25,000 to communication studies – the department in which Romo got his degree.

According to Associate Athletic Director John Smith, Romo had been planning since the summer to make the donation.

“I went to see him over the summer, and he talked about how he wanted to give back,” Smith said. “Tony has always said even from the time he signed his much smaller contract with the Cowboys that once he established himself he wanted to give back to Eastern. I think his high school and Eastern are in the top three or four of his giving priorities.”

Smith said the donation from Romo shows how highly he valued his time at here at Eastern.

“The donation shows Tony thinks very highly about the university and really enjoyed the time he spent here,” Smith said. “The fact that he gave to both the athletic department and the communication department – even though he’s making money through athletics – shows how much he values that program.”

Smith said it was the largest one time donation to the athletic department in his 11 years as associate athletic director.

According to Smith, the athletic department has put the money in the Reach for the 21st Century fund, which was created to improve facilities.

Communication studies chairman Mark Borzi said the department was very pleased by Romo’s donation as well. He said the department was surprised by the donation and does not know how the money will be used.

“We hope Tony has a wonderful year this year and that he thinks about us again in the future,” Borzi said. “Since the donation was a surprise, we want to take our time deciding what we are going to do with the money.”

Borzi said a number of members of the communications staff still maintain contact with the former Eastern quarterback.

In addition to the donation, the school has made a large sum of money from selling Romo’s Eastern college football jersey and t-shirt jersey.

Interim Athletic Director Ken Baker said the school has already made over $40,000 in sales, with requests for the items coming from all over the country.

“We’ve had calls from all over the world. Literally,” Baker said. “We had an air force base in Germany call and request one.”

A link for the jerseys is on the Dallas Cowboy’s website. Smith and Baker both agree the publicity from Romo has been enormous.

Smith said that even if Romo never donated a cent to the school, his character and notoriety have given the university tremendous publicity.

“That was one thing we told Tony,” Smith said. “Whether he gives us a dime or not, his character and how he represents Eastern Illinois as a person, as well as the notoriety he has brought to our university, show what kind of person he is. You can’t put a dollar amount on that. He’s just a class act.”

Baker said the athletics department did not ask for the donation, but Romo wanted to give back to the university.

“I think it would be OK in saying, we didn’t ask for this (the donation),” Baker said.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected].