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Facilities and Uniforms of Champions
When Lou Stark arrived at Case Western Reserve in 2013, the university already had a relatively new stadium and ballparks.
But the training facilities? They "were not acceptable" for a University Athletic Association program, the recently retired vice president for student affairs recalled. In subsequent years, CWRU built an athletic and wellness center and new locker rooms, and resurfaced the football, soccer, baseball and softball fields, and indoor track.
What made it possible: donors, many of them former CWRU athletes. "When coaches, students, folks on campus started seeing some of the investments being made," Stark said, "things changed."
Key milestones include:
PHOTO: MATT LANCE
» 2005
The new home to Spartans football and soccer opens. It was later named DiSanto Field, thanks to a contribution from Fred DiSanto (WRC ‘85, MGT ‘86), current CWRU Board of Trustees chair, and his wife, Brittan. He remains the sole CWRU athlete to have earned four letters each in football, basketball and baseball.
» 2006
Nobby's Ballpark opens. The baseball stadium was named for donor Norbert "Nobby" Lewandowski (MGT '64). Even as he earned an MBA, Lewandowski played professional baseball from 1959-1962 as a pitcher with a Pittsburgh Pirates' minor league team.
» 2009
Mather Park dedication. The softball team's home is renamed after the Flora Stone Mather Alumnae Association transferred its endowment to CWRU and targeted funding for several areas, including for the ballpark. In addition, Glenn Nicholls, then CWRU's vice president for student affairs, donated funds for a new press box in honor of his late wife, Peggy.
» 2014
Wyant Athletic and Wellness Center dedication. The three-level facility includes a weight room, cardio workout facility, offices, meeting rooms and a balcony overlooking DiSanto Field. It was made possible by a gift from James C. Wyant, PhD (CIT '65). Wyant—a four-year letter winner in cross country and track—also gave a gift to establish an endowed fund in the athletics department that named the athletics director position.
» 2018
Suiting-up athletes for years to come. A gift from Kim Rudy McMahon, whose late father, Marion Frank Rudy (CIT '50), invented the revolutionary Nike Air Sole, establishes the M. Frank Rudy and Margaret Dormiter Rudy Athletic Endowment for the ongoing purchase of Nike athletic uniforms and shoes for the university's 500-plus athletes on 19 varsity teams.