Fundraising Friday: $5M Naming Gift is Largest in Western Michigan Athletics History

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Ab24 Fundraising Friday (1)

Welcome to Fundraising Friday, AB Today's weekly digest of recent developments in development.

The University of Houston has received a $10 million donation from the Michael and Rebecca Cemo Family Foundation to support the new Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center. In recognition, the west-end scoreboard at TDECU Stadium will be named in the Cemo family’s honor. As reported Wednesday by KIAH in Houston, the $130 million football operations center, set to be completed in 10 months, will include athlete performance centers, locker rooms, academic support, and premium seating at TDECU Stadium.

Western Michigan University is renaming part of its largest athletic facility following the largest-ever donation to the department. Waldo Stadium, the football team's home, will now be home to Stafford-Smith Field, named after Stafford-Smith Inc., a Kalamazoo-based food service vendor owned by a former member of the Broncos football team. As reported by WXMI in Grand Rapids, the naming deal comes after a $5 million gift from David and Ronda Stafford, the largest ever donation for WMU Athletics. David played football at WMU from 1986 through 1988.

The dining hall in the One Team Olympic Sports Center will be named for avid Syracuse University alum and sports fan Edward C. Magee Sr., thanks to a $2 million pledge from his son, Edward "Ed" C. Magee, who received his first degree from the school 37 years later. In recognition of the gift to the John A. Lally Athletics Complex and the Athletics Opportunity Fund, the dining hall will be commonly referred to as Magee One Team Dining, a place that honors the dedication of more than 600 student-athletes across 20 sports, according to the university's Tuesday announcement.

State Center Community College District announced Tuesday that Clovis Community College in Fresno, Calif., has received a $500,000 donation from the Diamond Learning Center to boost the school's athletic programs. As reported last week by The San Joaquin Valley SunThe Diamond Learning Center, based in Clovis, is an educational institution that helps adult students, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. The yet-to-be-constructed Clovis Community College Sports Complex will be named the ISE Diamond L.I.F.E. Sports Complex.

Total amount of these gifts:

$17,500,000




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