Feature: Victory for MSU
VICTORY FOR MSU: AN ACADEMIC CENTER FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES
Spartans who yearn for greater success in MSU athletics can now rally behind the campaign to build an academic center for student-athletes. Led by two prominent Michigan State alumni who have pledged their own gifts to the cause, the University's new $6 million campaign to build a Student- Athlete Academic Center is now a third of the way to its goal.
National co-chairs Peter Secchia, '63, and Kirk Gibson, '79, are spearheading 'Victory for MSU,' the athletic department's first bricks-and-mortar campaign, to fund construction of the academic center. The new facility will enable MSU to centralize its athletic academic support services under one roof and expand the resources available to its nearly 800 student-athletes.
The two-story, 31,000-square-foot center will be built adjacent to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building on West Shaw Lane. It will be home to the department's academic advisors and counselors and will feature a 200-seat auditorium, classrooms, study and tutoring rooms, computer laboratories and a student lounge. The center also will be the home of Michigan State's Athletic Hall of Fame, with displays and memorabilia representing the very best of Spartan athletics. 'Michigan State University provides our student-athletes with the training, facilities and resources they need to perform their best in their sports,' remarked Secchia, the former U.S. ambassador to Italy and chairman of Universal Forest Products Inc., a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Grand Rapids. 'This new center will enable the university to strengthen the academic resources these students need to do their best in the classroom.'
Secchia and his wife, Joan, have pledged $150,000 to the campaign. 'As alumni and fans of MSU, we expect a lot from our student-athletes,' stated Gibson, a two-sport All-American during his Michigan State career. 'We want them to win so we can be proud of our alma mater and its teams. And their successes and failures often are played out before hundreds or thousands of spectators. 'But they're here to get an education, first and foremost, and we need to support their academic efforts as well,' he continued.
'Their victories in the classroom are even more important than the ones on the field.' Gibson, the former Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers star who retired in 1995 after a 17-year major league career, has committed $100,000 to 'Victory for MSU.'
With the same hard-driving style that characterized his playing days, he also is working to get other Spartan letterwinners and friends involved in the project. 'When Gibby gets the chance to present his reasons for giving, and makes that passionate appeal of his, it's tough for potential donors to say no,' commented Terry Braverman, director of the Ralph Young Fund, through which gifts to Spartan athletics are made. 'He and Peter Secchia are proving to be a powerful leadership team for this campaign.'
Gifts made during the initial leadership phase of 'Victory for MSU' have put the campaign total at just over $2 million. Among the leadership gifts is a $50,000 commitment from head football coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry. The Downtown Coaches Club and the Varsity Alumni 'S' Club also have pledged $100,000 each (see accompanying story). 'We have a large pool of alumni and friends of Michigan State University who have never been asked to support athletics with a major gift,' said Charles Webb, vice president for University Development. 'When we explain to them that we are strengthening our academic resources and standards for our student- athletes, it really does have universal appeal.'
'This is a project that has everyone at the university on the same page,' added Merritt Norvell, director of athletics. 'President McPherson, Provost Simon and Vice President Roger Wilkinson have been extremely supportive of our efforts, and I firmly believe that we will reach our goal.'
For more information on giving to 'Victory for MSU,' contact the Ralph Young Fund office at 517-355-8257 or 800-232-4MSU. Donors to the Student-Athlete Academic Center will qualify for the benefits of Ralph Young Fund membership. --Editor
