Welcome to Facility Friday, AB Today's weekly digest of recent developments in development.
A $5 million gift from the Spaht Family Foundation will endow the position of Executive Associate Athletics Director for Dartmouth Peak Performance (DP2), Dartmouth's comprehensive program designed to position student-athletes to achieve optimal levels of physical and mental health, mental performance and personal growth. According to the athletic department's Wednesday announcement, Holden Spaht graduated from Dartmouth in 1996 and captained the varsity men's tennis team his senior year. Austin Driggers, who joined the Department of Athletics and Recreation in 2024, will hold the title of the Spaht Family Executive Associate Athletics Director for Dartmouth Peak Performance. The newly endowed DP2 role will collaborate closely with the Kirsten and Eugene F. "Buddy" Teevens '79 Center for Peak Performance leadership team and play a vital part in advancing Dartmouth's strategic priorities. The Teevens Center will function as an interdisciplinary hub for research and programming focused on student wellbeing, leadership and performance. Its three core pillars are elevating the competitiveness of Dartmouth's varsity athletics, extending elements of DP2 to all undergraduates, and driving groundbreaking research and innovation in performance science.
University of Maryland Athletics announced Wednesday a $2.5 million estate commitment from Bob and Carol Baker, increasing the couple's total estate commitment to the University of Maryland to $10 million. Additionally, the Bakers have made a lifetime gift of $250,000 in support of the Terrapin Club Impact Fund and the Athletics Facilities Fund.
Pepperdine Athletics announced Tuesday a gift of nearly $375,000 from the Estate of Dave Holden, designated to the Marv Dunphy Endowed Volleyball Fund and Nina Matthies Endowed Fund for Beach Volleyball. The gift, one of the largest single endowment gifts in the history of Pepperdine Athletics, supports the storied men's volleyball and women's beach volleyball programs, providing long-term stability and strengthening both programs for generations of student-athletes and leaders to come.
The University of Massachusetts athletic department announced Thursday a $1 million gift from Chuck Sherwood, who holds two advanced degrees from UMass, and his wife MaryAnn, daughter of a former Minutemen assistant football coach, to support the UMass Hockey Excellence Endowment and the student-athlete experience in Amherst.
Momentum for the Gassen Family Fieldhouse project at the University of South Dakota continues to grow, as Miles and Lisa Beacom have generously gifted $500,000 to the project, athletic director Jon Schemmel announced Wednesday. The state-of-the-art indoor track and field facility project was officially announced in August 2025, following a $20 million dollar gift from USD track and field alum Denny Sanford. A $1 million donation to the project was announced earlier this month.
Total amount of these gifts:
$9,625,000
Running total for 2026:
$191,575,000
Total amount tracked by AB Today in 2025:
$1,671,578,500
