Susquehanna Announces Plans for New $14 Million Sports and Fitness Complex
Football Stadium to be Named for SU Grad Nicholas Lopardo

SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Susquehanna University officials announced details today at a campus news conference about the upcoming $14 million expansion and renovation of its sports and fitness facilities, including the naming of a new football and track stadium. The sports and fitness project represents the first major improvements to the University's athletics facilities in 23 years and has emerged as one of the remaining priorities in the University's $42 million Susquehanna 2000: The Next Challenge capital campaign.

Field House and Jacobs Fitness Center

Susquehanna Director of Athletics Don Harnum presented architectural renderings, a site plan and floor plans of the project's two major additions -- a fitness center to be constructed on the west front of O.W. Houts Gymnasium, and a field house and connecting link to be constructed on the east side. The new field house will be built on the site of the current Amos Alonzo Stagg Field, which will require construction of the new football/track stadium on the site of the current baseball field. Stagg Field, which has been the site of Crusader football for 100 seasons, will retain its name, even though its location will change. New baseball and practice fields will be created at the southwest part of campus near Sassafras Avenue.

Susquehanna University President Joel Cunningham announced that the new football and track stadium will be named in honor of Nicholas A. Lopardo. A 1968 graduate of Susquehanna and a member of the University board of directors since 1992, Lopardo played football and baseball while he was a student at Susquehanna and was inducted into the University's Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. On June 5, 1999, he was awarded the Alumni Association's 1999 Award for Achievement during Alumni Weekend. He is vice chairman of State Street Corporation in Boston, Mass., and chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors.

Nicholas A. Lopardo Football and Track Stadium

"Without Mr. Lopardo's leadership in moving us forward on the sports and fitness complex, we wouldn't have been able to break ground on the schedule we're planning to now," Cunningham said. "We are grateful for his substantial financial commitment to this project, as well as the gifts he has made to other campaign priorities, including the new business and communications building." Lopardo's gift commitments to the Susquehanna 2000 campaign exceed $1.5 million.

Cunningham also recognized Dr. Clyde Jacobs, a retired ophthalmologist from Northumberland, and his wife, Alice Ann Patterson Jacobs, a Susquehanna graduate and member of the board of directors. Their $1 million gift, announced earlier this spring, will make possible the new fitness center which will be named in their honor. "Dr. Jacobs is a wonderful example of how a lifelong commitment to fitness and good health can enhance the quality of life, and Mrs. Jacobs is a super board member," Cunningham said. "Their generous gift will positively influence the lives of many Susquehanna students."

Susquehanna's current athletic facilities consist of Alumni Gymnasium, built in the 1930s, and the adjoining O.W. Houts Gymnasium and Physical Education Center, added in 1976. Since 1976, Susquehanna's student body has grown by more than 300 students and its varsity teams now number 22, compared to 14 teams in 1976. Adequate space no longer exists to balance the need of the varsity program with the increased demand for intramural, general recreation and fitness space.

Description and timeline of New Construction and Renovation
Susquehanna University has worked with two architectural firms on construction design - Spillman Farmer Shoemaker Pell Whildin-PC of Bethlehem, Pa., and HNTB Architects, Engineers and Planners of Boston.

The new, 51,000-square-foot field house will be constructed at the east end of Houts Gymnasium, on the current site of Amos Alonzo Stagg Field, and will be joined to the gymnasium by a 6,000-square-foot, two-story connecting link. The field house will feature a six-lane, 200-meter indoor track, four multi-purpose playing courts for basketball, tennis and volleyball, and indoor team practice space for field sports. The connecting building will contain new sports medicine and training facilities, and meeting and study space. Construction of the field house is scheduled for May 2000 through August 2001.

The new fitness center facing Bogar Hall will be a glass-fronted, 9,300-square-foot, two-level addition to O.W. Houts Gymnasium, which will provide an exciting new entrance to the facility and ample fitness areas on each level. It is designed to provide the campus community with a larger, more attractive and better-equipped space for fitness training, as well as additional space for social and recreational interaction. The first level will house selectorized weight-training machines; the upper level will house three times the amount of aerobic fitness equipment currently in use, including treadmills, stair steppers, stationary bicycles and rowing machines. A new student lounge with café dining will be created near the lobby. Construction of the new fitness center addition is scheduled to begin in April 2000 and conclude in November 2000.

The new football and track stadium will provide seating capacity for 3,500 spectators, an eight-lane, quarter-mile track, a concession stand, and a press box. It will be constructed just northeast of the new field house. Relocation of the stadium will require the construction of three new outdoor tennis courts. The new football stadium will be constructed beginning November 1999 through August 2000. Renovations of existing athletic facilities will include conversion of the Alumni Gymnasium into racquetball and squash courts, with a student lounge and study spaces, and a food and beverage vending area. Other improvements include a new studio for aerobics, dance and martial arts; a new free weights room; five new offices, additional team and staff locker rooms, and a new whirlpool and sauna.

Funding Sources
President Cunningham noted that at least half of the $14 million building project will be funded through campaign gifts, with the remainder funded by reserves and proceeds of a bond issue approved by the University board of directors. In March, the Kresge Foundation extended a $1 million challenge to the Susquehanna 2000 campaign. If Susquehanna can meet the terms of the Kresge Challenge, the foundation will make a $1 million grant to the campaign for the sports and fitness complex. Although the Susquehanna 2000 campaign has secured just over $41 million, the University still must raise an additional $2.3 million in order to claim the Kresge Foundation challenge grant. Included in the $41 million total is more than $3.6 million designated for the sports and fitness complex.