Bloomington’s Curry Auto Center Offers Free 2-Year Lease To Purdue Student

Purdue student Zach Spangler thought he won a two-year lease from the Rohrman Automotive Group after a field goal kicking competition during the Boilermakers' first home football game, but the offer was later rescinded. To one-up their rivals to the north, Curry Auto Center in Bloomington made a similar offer in hopes of turning it into a positive situation.

Joseph Curry, the comptroller and treasurer of Curry Auto Center in Bloomington, Ind., spoke Wednesday with Indiana Hoosiers on SI about the dealership offering Purdue student Zach Spangler a two-year lease on a Chevrolet Blazer EV. /

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Curry Auto Center recently saw an opportunity to turn a negative situation into a positive one.

Even if the story was playing out in West Lafayette.

During a break in Purdue's football home opener against Indiana State on Aug. 31, Purdue student Zach Spangler successfully kicked field goals of 20, 30 and 40 yards as part of a Kicks For Cash Challenge presented by Rohrman Automotive Group in Lafayette, Ind.

Spangler celebrated as if he won a two-year complimentary car lease and $250. But the following Thursday, he received an email from the dealership rescinding the prize because his kick was five one-hundredths of a second too late, which was met with plenty of social media backlash.

On Monday, Curry Auto Center in Bloomington, Ind. — based in arch-rival territory — offered Spangler a two-year lease on a Chevrolet Blazer EV.

It counts at Curry!!! Zach, reach out to us - we have a free 2-year lease for you on a #ChevyBlazerEV! @SchutteDustin @crimsonquarry @barstoolsports @BoilerFootball @chevrolet https://t.co/2iAe3O0xkJ

— Curry Auto Center (@CurryAutoCenter) September 9, 2024

“Obviously we’re in Bloomington, this happened in West Lafayette, and we saw this online and we really felt bad for the young man because all of our managers were sitting around thinking, ‘There’s no way any of us could probably hit one of those field goals, let alone all three,’ ” Joseph Curry said Wednesday in an interview with Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “And we thought, you know, that’s an emotional roller coaster. How can we try to make this right? And we thought, well, we can step in and cover the lease, and that’s how it came to be.”

“I felt bad. It hit home because you see these events, and I don’t know I’ve ever actually seen anyone win it before. So to hear someone actually won, and then had it taken away, I guess we all kind of felt his pain a little bit.”

Curry knew Spangler had other offers at the time of the interview, but he had not heard a final decision. The Purdue Exponent, Purdue’s student newspaper, reported Wednesday that Rohrman Automotive Group reversed course and offered Spangler his choice of a two-year car lease or $5,000. Spangler told the Exponent he will be taking the money.

After hearing of Spangler’s decision to take the cash, Curry said that their offer of the two-year lease stands. 

“Our offer is still on the table if Zach wants the Blazer EV,” Curry later told Indiana Hoosiers on SI. 

“I know there’s a rivalry between Bloomington and West Lafayette and IU and Purdue,” Curry said. “But, you know, a new Blazer EV, it’s new technology, it’s an electric car, and we think it’s a great vehicle. So we think he should consider it at least.”

Chevrolet Blazer EV pictured in the parking lot at Curry Auto Center in Bloomington, Ind. /

This offer from Curry Auto Center speaks to their long-standing goal of helping the community, especially college students. 

“Our philosophy has always been to invest in students and invest in the community,” Curry said. “Because of where we’re located, the community a lot of times is students. So we’ve had a long-standing, 25-plus-year partnership with IU Athletics, the IU Auditorium, also locally here the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington, providing vehicles, providing sponsorships, just really to try to make Bloomington a better place and with a specific emphasis on young people, young college students that are kind of in a stage of life that’s really impressionable.

"So that’s kind of the history of those partnerships. And even if Zach doesn’t end up with a car from us, we intend to use this for good and to help support students, use this as an opportunity to help support students in Bloomington and West Lafayette as well.”

Indiana University students can look forward to a similar offering from Curry Auto Center during the upcoming basketball season. Curry said their dealership is moving forward with a partnership with IU Athletics, which will award a student a Chevrolet Blazer EV if they can make a halfcourt shot at an Indiana women’s basketball game. That partnership helped spark the idea to offer Spangler the car, Curry said.

Curry was surprised at how quickly their offer to Spangler gained traction on social media. As of Wednesday evening, it has over 135,000 views on Twitter.

“We were just really amazed at how we could take a negative situation and use the power of social media to really make it a positive situation,” Curry said. “That’s something you don’t see every day, and so we were excited to be a small part of that.”

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