A large crowd swarmed Gosman last weekend for the first-ever "Athletes in Beantown" autograph and memorabilia show. The benefit event was held to support the women's basketball team and marked the first time Brandeis has held such an event. Bob DeMartino, father of women's basketball player Amanda DeMartino '06, set up the exposition through the Athlete Business Network.

"It's been a great experience for people to come down and see what we're about," Coach Carol Simon said. "Bob had put a lot of work into this and it's nice to see local people coming out and it's pretty neat to have these professional athletes here."

The show featured a host of current and retired professionals, including former Patriots linebacker Andre Tippet, former Red Sox left fielder Jim Rice and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie, all of whom signed autographs.

The amount raised has not yet been made public, but the Judges hope the money will fund a summer trip to Costa Rica.

"It's great when someone can attach their name to a charity or an event so that they can make a difference because of their name power," Flutie said. "It's great to see that more and more people are getting involved."

Over 50 memorabilia dealers came to present their collectibles to the Brandeis and Waltham communities.

Despite the bad weather on Saturday, the show enjoyed a decent turnout throughout all three days, though Sunday was the busiest.

"It was a good show," Bob DeMartino said. "The team had a great time, the athletes really enjoyed themselves and the vendors enjoyed doing the show because it was for a good cause. I think this helped the athletic department in general make a lot of contacts so hopefully they can continue to do this kind of thing."

Thanks to good advertising, the event brought in many locals-some came solely for autographs, some came to check to check out the merchandise-but overall, the crowd seemed pleased with what the show had to offer.

"This is a different setting for this type of thing, but I think it was a good place to have it," said Larry of Brookline (who did not wish to give his last name), a sports memorabilia collector who heard about the event through The Boston Globe. "There's a pretty wide range of things and they have a lot to offer."

Aside from the local crowd, a handful of students also showed up to support their peers. While the student turnout was not large as anticipated, the crowd came to check out what the show had to offer as well as to support its fellow students.

"There's a lot of cool memorabilia here," John Eskow '08 said. "Also, the fact that it's supporting the [women's] basketball team makes it a lot more attractive to come to."

While the team does not know yet whether or not the revenue from the event will be enough for their trip, the Judges were happy that the event was a success and like the idea that the fund raiser also created some team bonding time.

"We don't see each other that much when we're not playing," Brandeis center Caitlin Malcolm '07 said. "This event was a good way to see everyone again and it's cool that this is helping us, hopefully, go to Costa Rica this summer."

Though this was the first event of its kind for Brandeis, it was clearly successful and there are hopes to make it an annual or semi-annual event.

"Bob and I would like to try to put something like this on a couple times a year," Simon said. "We want to try to get a following because once you start something and people know it's happening at certain times, you start to get a crowd.