Topic: H-D: MU receives $5 million donation for new athletic facilities

[biggreenarms]

July 20, 2011 @ 11:10 PM

LACIE PIERSON

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- A former Marshall University student and successful entrepreneur helped the institution take a major step toward achieving fundraising goals for new athletic facilities.

Christopher Cline announced at a gathering Monday night at his home in Beckley a gift of $5 million from the Cline Family Foundation to establish an endowment to support new faculty and scientists in the university's planned sports medicine translational research center.

The donation has been matched by the "Bucks for Brains" West Virginia Research Trust Fund, which puts the total donation at $10 million, according to a release Wednesday from the university.

Cline is a self-made billionaire whose net worth is $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. His fortune has come from his work in the coal industry. His company, Foresight Energy, owns about 3 billion tons of coal reserves, most of it in Illinois, according to Forbes.

Earlier this year, he donated $5 million to West Virginia University with $2 million to create an endowed chair in orthopaedic surgery and $3 million for a new basketball practice facility.

The Marshall donation will focus on translational sports medicine, which is an interdisciplinary area that blends basic science in tissue growth and repair, gene expression, and nanotechnology with biomechanics and physiology to address challenges in sports medicine. The focus of Marshall's new translational sports medicine research program will be addressing those challenges across the continuum -- from the researcher to patient treatment.

The sports medicine translational research center will be located in the multipurpose indoor practice complex, which is planned as part of a $30 million upgrade to Marshall's athletic facilities. The practice complex also will include a full competition track, an artificial playing surface and the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame.

The facility will be located where the current soccer field between 3rd and 5th avenues, east of Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/marshall/x1652338392/No-Headline?i=0

[biggreenarms]

"The race is on and we're off to a great start," Hamrick said. "We anticipate in the next couple months more significant gifts."

He said among the crowd at Cline's house were at least 15 potential donors that have the capability of putting them over the top.

That's a powerful statement right there. But that should not discourage all of us to step up as well and give what you can, if you can. Every bit helps. GO HERD!