Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Y! MyWebWSU INSIDER
$1M donation gets WSU's Raider Village going
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Newly retired Athletic Director Mike Cusack birthed the idea of Wright State's Raider Village. New AD Bob Grant embraced it.
Last weekend, local businessman Allan Rinzler announced the first significant donation — a $1 million grant toward an 80,000-square-foot field house with retractable sides that will be used not only by WSU's student-athletes, but the entire student community.
"Wright State is geared toward the whole community," Rinzler said. "I wanted to do something that would be geared to most of the students."
It is an ambitious project and it is still in the planning stage. Rinzler's gift, though, is quite a start.
"The Raider Village is extremely exciting for all of us," Grant said. "This certainly ranks with one of the most significant donations in our history, giving us a major start toward completing a comprehensive athletics facility."
Initial cost estimates for the field house project run north of $3 million. As planned, the facility would be large enough to house a soccer field and also could be used for track, baseball and softball. Of most interest to Rinzler is the idea the facility would be open to all students, which is how the McLin Gym is used inside the Nutter Center.
WSU's current facilities include the Nutter Center for basketball, convocations and concerts; the McLin Gym for volleyball, practice for several sports and the general student population; Nischwitz Stadium for baseball; Alumni Field for soccer; a softball field; and the Mills-Morgan Center/Setzer Pavilion for men's and women's basketball training, as well as a weight center for all sports.
There also is a string of tennis courts as well as a natatorium.
Rinzler, a Georgia native who spent part of his college days at Ohio State, has worked in Dayton for 40 years, was a WSU board of trustees member from 1985-94, and is in payback mode.
"This isn't just for a few athletes," Rinzler said. "It's for everybody."
Dig Pink Night
The volleyball team will participate in the national Dig Pink event at 7 p.m. today, Oct. 8, when WSU hosts Butler at McLin Gym during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
WSU senior middle blocker Lizzy Gunn, WSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Council athlete of the month, recorded 109 kills and 48 blocks in 12 matches during September.
The Raiders were 4-2 in Horizon League play entering Tuesday night's home match against Valparaiso.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157
or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
