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Brick by brick, the long-awaited Defiance College Athletic Center is nearing completion. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends of the college, this $4.2 million facility will soon enhance the quality of life for all DC students.
There is still time for you to make your permanent mark on this facility!
In honor of the many contributors to this project, the lobby of the facility will include a donor recognition wall, with a section for personalized bricks. Gifts at the $1,250 level and up will be recognized on the recognition wall.
You may still purchase a brick to help complete the Athletic Center. Bricks may be purchased in your own name, in recognition of family or friends, as memorials, or in honor of an outstanding coach, professor or mentor.
If you have previously made a gift below the $1,250 level, you may make an additional donation for a combined total of $1,250 or above, to receive your recognition brick. Gifts may be made outright or as a multi-year pledge.
Place Your Brick Order Here
Thank you for helping to make
the Athletic Center a reality!
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The unveiling of the latest design of the long-awaited Wellness & Fitness Center/Field House has sparked a new wave of energy and excitement for The Transforming Difference, The Campaign for Defiance College. |
This project has gone through several revisions in an effort to provide for the needs of the College and its students, in the most fiscally responsible manner possible, or as it has been succinctly summed up, achieving the biggest bang for our bucks. The end result is a plan for an outstanding facility of steel and masonry, constructed on property already owned by the College, that will meet the needs of Yellow Jacket sports and student fitness, while being the recreational hub of the DC campus.
This new 84,000 square foot facility features a six-lane NCAA approved track, with accommodation for pole vaulting, practice areas for all sport, and an expanded fitness center that will promote campus-wide physical and social vitality.
The construction of the new complex will put the athletic facilities of Defiance College on a competitive basis, and will greatly enhance recruitment of gifted student athletes. Equally important, the fitness and recreational benefits the new Center offers will make it a valuable asset in recruitment and retention of all students. |
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| Academically, the Wellness & Fitness Center/Field House will assist the academic programs of Athletic Training, Sport Management and Wellness & Corporate Fitness to achieve a new level of success. |
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"The $3.5 million price tag on this facility is well within reach," Campaign Chair George Smart emphasized when revealing the plans. "Especially since funding for over half the project has already been secured."
President Mark Gordon concurred, adding that the College wants to move on it immediately. "If we don’t do it now, we’ll never do it."
With the drive to secure the remaining funds underway, groundbreaking for the new sports facility will occur once gifts are committed. |
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When Craig Rutter, longtime baseball coach and faculty at Defiance College, jumped in to help raise funds for the new field house, he wasn’t sure what he was getting into. He knew he wanted to reach out to his former ballplayers to let them know how important this project is for Defiance College, and how committed he is to seeing the field house built. |
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To get the message out, Craig wrote letters to “his guys” about the effort to build this new facility, asking for their financial support. He then followed up his letters with phone calls.
This was Craig’s first involvement in the fundraising aspect of the college. “I was nervous about making the phone calls. I was sweating bullets. I had lost touch with so many of the guys – I’ve been here 28 years and I haven’t seen some since graduation. ” His wife, Gayle, said to him, “What are you so nervous about? They’re your ballplayers!”
She was right. Every person Coach Rutter spoke with was enthusiastic about talking with him. “It was a chance for me to rekindle relationships with guys that I haven’t talked to or visited with for years and years,” Rutter said. “It went far beyond what I’d expected.”
“I wanted the student athletes that I have coached to know I am asking them to do something I am doing. Gayle and I are making a pledge as well. That’s how I went into this.” Rutter said his push was for his players to be a part of this effort, regardless of their giving level.
“I am excited about the field house because it’s going to be a very functional facility. Every square inch of the building will be used. I am excited because everybody on this campus can utilize it, not just athletics – students, faculty and staff…for recreation, strength and conditioning, and performance enhancements. It will speak to everyone on the campus and in the community.”
Coach Rutter commented on DC President Mark Gordon’s commitment to getting the field house built. “I really appreciate Mark’s investment in this, his sincere belief that this needs to be built. He understands the need. “
About his experience in this fundraising effort, Rutter added, “It’s strengthened my love for the college and for the guys I coached. Making the connection – that’s what it was for me. ” |
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RAISED: $4,198,824 | GOAL: $4,200,000 |
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Reserve Your Place on the Wall
“As we come to the end of a long journey, I invite you to help build a foundation for the future. This is an important project for alumni, parents and friends, and you can have a lasting impact on this magnificent and much-needed facility.”
--President Mark C. Gordon.
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Coach Duane “Scout” Hocking has had lots of experience working the phones during her 32 years at DC, recruiting female athletes and assisting with other projects. So the Institutional Advancement department was happy to have Scout be part of the team raising money for the $3.5 million field house.
“When the president (Mark C. Gordon) said it was his goal to see this project completed, I felt good about it, upbeat and excited that the project was going to take place,” Duane related. |
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To help enlist support for getting the field house built, Duane wrote to and telephoned students that she had in class as well athletes that were here when she was. She summed up her experiences with the calls she made in one word: fun. “I enjoyed every one of them. It was so much fun talking to the alumni – I wished there was an opportunity to talk longer and talk to each one of them again. They were very receptive to the calls, and they seemed to be very interested in the field house project as well.”
Even though her coaching and teaching days are behind her, Scout believes, “We need to look ahead to the young people and the educational and coaching staff that will have access to this great facility.”
“It’s an opportunity I wish I could have had, but I certainly am happy that Mark Gordon made the push to get the project done. I think this is a great opportunity for the coaches and the faculty to further the education of the students and the athletics programs.”
Since the subject of a reunion was a constant theme as Duane spoke with alumni, “It would be so nice if we could get all of those folks back on campus to celebrate the completion of the field house,” she concluded. |
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As you know, Defiance College has been working to raise money for a field house as part of the current Transforming Difference capital campaign.
I can remember when Carolyn and I came to the College in 1954. We were told then that the college was about to construct a field house. Fifty-six years later, it is time for us to get this done! |
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The latest version of the field house is very do-able – it is a masonry and steel facility to be constructed on property that the College owns, with a cost of $3.5 million. As the chart shows, we’re making great progress towards this goal. It is within our reach -- we can do it.
I feel so strongly about this project that Carolyn and I have rethought our financial planning and have made a $50,000 pledge to the field house campaign. This is a REAL STRETCH for us, but we feel it is important to do. It is also not easy for me to ask you now to join us. But it is important. I need you to join us to make this work.
In all these years, I have not asked you to do anything for me or for the College. But I am 85 now, and I think it’s time. You can safely consider this the only request I will ever make of you – but it is from the heart.
As President Gordon has told us, we have the opportunity to make our dreams for a field house come true, and we need to act on it now, before the economy changes and construction costs go back up. The partnerships that Defiance College has put together will not just enable the field house to improve our athletic program, they will also enable a range of the academic programs (athletic training, sport management, wellness & fitness, etc.) to achieve a new level of success.
Can you tell how deeply I care about this? The athletes I coached have never let me down, either on the playing field or in the many years since then, and I know you won’t let me down now. I thank you with all my heart for helping with this project, and I look forward to seeing the DC field house built soon – while you and I can still enjoy it together!
Your coach,
Dick Small |
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