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Improvements Upgrade the Student-Athlete Experience
With nearly two-thirds of Allegheny students participating in varsity, club or intramural sports, keeping the school’s athletic facilities and programs at peak performance levels is crucial to recruitment and student success.
blue field/field hockey
With the recently completed Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest campaign raising $30.2 million for investment in the College’s historic campus, a portion of the dollars raised went to improvements to athletic facilities.
“Thanks to the generosity of numerous donors throughout the campaign, we have been able to address some much-needed upgrades as well as a few additions to our athletic facilities,” says William Ross, director of athletics and recreation. “Such enhancements are crucial in keeping our studentathletes and teams competitive within a very strong athletic conference. Also, athletic facilities rate as one of the most influential reasons a recruited studentathlete selects a college. Thus, these most recent facility improvements are a boost to our recruitment efforts.”
Major renovations have been made at the Robertson Athletic Complex, including installation of a new blue turf surface and lighting to host the College’s newest varsity teams, field hockey and men’s lacrosse. The new artificial surface is also used by the soccer programs and women’s lacrosse team.
Through the generous support of several donors, the College installed new grass soccer fields — a game field and a practice field. Key donors to the project include Chris Belnap ’82 and Florence Dietrick Belnap ’82, Rob Smith ’73 and Nancy Newton Smith ’74, and Chuck Bunch P’07. Bunch made his gift in honor of his daughter and son-in-law — Robin Bunch ’07 and Marc Sciulli ’05 — both alumni of the Allegheny soccer program. In turn, they made a gift to the soccer project as well. A new equipment storage area and an expanded athletic training room were also added to the Robertson complex.
At the David V. Wise Sport & Fitness Center, the blue practice courts were resurfaced. A new scoreboard was installed, and the basketball court was resurfaced in the James H. Mullen, Jr., Arena, named for the College’s 21st president. Two racquetball courts were converted to weight and cardio rooms, allowing for the existing weight room to become a varsity-only space. This not only gives varsity athletes their own dedicated workout space, but it also reduces the often crowded conditions for students when teams are working out. Eddie Taylor ’87, a former Gator athlete from Cleveland, Ohio, who supported the campaign, says: “Part of my identity was always around athletics, so my contributions made back to the athletic programs, in particular football and baseball, are something that’s very personal. It has meaning to me because in so many ways my ability to get an education and further my understanding of the world was driven by the time spent on the athletic fields. To be on that field, to compete, it helps you to learn and to grow. Being a team member and a good teammate, that was always important to me.
“My gratitude to the College is partly due to the experiences that were generated in my athletic endeavors at Allegheny,” says Taylor, who is a member of the College’s Board of Trustees. “Athletics prepares you and helps you navigate what is always an interesting journey into a post-college career. So there are a number of influences, not only in the
Eddie Taylor ’87
Allegheny College Board of Trustees
blue courts
basketball court
classroom, but on the field that made a difference in my life.”
For Rob and Nancy Smith, supporting Gator athletics isn’t so much about the on-field exertion as it is about the competitive spirit and the Allegheny advantage. The Smiths live in Meadville and enjoy attending Gator games to support student-athletes, including a nephew and a niece.
“We’ve supported the basketball program because of our great nephew who played basketball at Allegheny. We support soccer because both our girls played soccer through college, not at Allegheny, and Nancy is a huge soccer fan, thanks to them,” says Rob Smith. “We’ve always felt that when our daughters played in college, it was an important part of the college experience. And in Division III, it really is a way to keep the students focused. Also, the people we’ve gotten to know in the programs tell us that athletics helps the student-athlete quite a bit. It helps them become more well-rounded, and it gives them a great sense of teamwork, a sense of accomplishment. Things like that are really, really important in a college education.”
“I think over the years, it’s the personal relationships we’ve developed with the coaches and students that have been so rewarding,” says Nancy Smith.
“It hasn’t really changed from when we went there in the sense that when you graduated from Allegheny, you were usually far ahead of people from other schools,” says Rob Smith, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees.
Allegheny senior Rachel Tobler, from Libertyville, Illinois, is a member of the swim and dive team. “I have been since I was a freshman, and this year I’m also one of the captains along with five others. We have a really great team of leaders to help plan practices and team-bonding events. It’s been a very unconventional season.
“Athletics has really helped me with time management,” Tobler says. “Being on a set practice schedule, having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, go through my day and then have practice later again that night keeps me on a strict schedule. It forces me to be able to do homework in the middle of the day and not put it off until night. I think that’s something that will help me in
Rob Smith ’73
Allegheny College Board of Trustees
weight room
the post-school job market, to be able to stay motivated and on top of all my work.”
Senior Pearl Cooper, from Corning, New York, runs cross country and says competing in varsity sports holds great memories that will last a lifetime.
“It’s been really a great experience, and I wouldn’t have been able to come to Allegheny without support from my academic scholarships, which include the Ellen and William Cramer Scholarship and the Grace BlaisdellCoggeshall Scholarship,” Cooper says. “My best memories are of the team camaraderie in the locker rooms, playing music and stretching outside with the sunset in the background, doing strides on the track and looking up and seeing all the leaves turning red in the fall.”
Endowed Scholarships Open the Door to Limitless Possibilities
The Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest campaign generated $50 million in new endowed scholarships. That outpouring of generosity will annually provide approximately $2 million, in perpetuity, to ensure access and improve affordability for Allegheny College students for generations to come.
Behind those numbers are a host of donors paving the way for promising young scholars to succeed at Allegheny.
Without support from the Priscilla B. ’62 and David H. Hoag ’60 Scholarship for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Kasey Cordes ’21 says that she never would have been able to afford to attend college.
“I come from a family that hasn't seen a single member gain a four-year degree, ever,” says Cordes, a political science major and communication minor from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. “I'll be the first one. I can't wait to graduate and begin a career. To me, the possibilities I once thought I'd never have now have become limitless.” Supporters established 52 new endowed scholarships during the Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest campaign. Al Trezza ’01 and Megan Bush Trezza ’02 were the youngest donors to create an endowment during the campaign. They funded a scholarship and student support fund in honor of Professor of Mathematics Anthony J. Lo Bello.
Al Trezza credits the College’s mathematics faculty, including Lo Bello and Richard Holmgren, with inspiring him to explore opportunities that led to his career as an actuary. “Without that little nudge in the right direction, I wouldn't have applied for my first internship,
