CINCINNATI, OH – Jeff Ruby (www.jeffruby.com) has pledged to buy a steak dinner at any of his iconic steakhouses for every current Northern Kentucky University undergrad student if the Norse beat the University of Kentucky in their first round NCAA matchup this Friday in Indianapolis.
This marks NKU’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in just their first year of Division I eligibility and Ruby wanted to recognize the achievement.
“It’s just incredible what they’ve done with their program,” Ruby said. “To climb into Division I and then make the tournament in their first year is unbelievable. I wanted to do something big to reward them – what’s better than offering a steak dinner to every student to celebrate a first round win?”
Although Ruby is both a fan of Kentucky as well as a personal friend of UK Coach John Calipari, he doesn’t believe there is a conflict of loyalties in offering this incentive to the upstarts at NKU.
“I’m currently putting my surrogate son, Griffin Urlage (now a 2nd year student), through NKU and continue to be very impressed with this school.” Ruby said. “NKU is virtually in our back yard and we’ve watched it grow at an amazing rate since we started building our own businesses in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in 1981. It’s a true success story and they’re just getting started.”
Should the Norse topple the #2 seed Wildcats on Friday night, Ruby estimates the cost of providing a full steak dinner to 15,000 college students may well exceed $1 million.
“Yes, this could get very expensive.” Ruby admits with a smile. “But it’s important to me to show support to our hometown organizations. NKU is a real asset to the community as they continue to produce extraordinary talented leaders for our region and beyond.”
The high-steaks game is scheduled for Friday, March 17, 2017 at 9:40PM at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN and will be broadcast on CBS.
About Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment
Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouses have earned an extraordinary national reputation for delivering impeccable total dining experiences. Including Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouses in Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville & Columbus (opening Fall 2017) and Carlo & Johnny and The Precinct in Cincinnati, OH, Ruby’s iconic eateries have earned national accolades recognizing not only their popularity, but consistently high standards. Recent awards include recognition by Wine Spectator , USAToday, Travel + Leisure, OpenTable and many others. A new location in Lexington, KY is currently in the planning stages.