NewsUpper SchoolPre-K to 8
Trustees Approve Construction of New Athletic Center
Oct 1, 1999 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
After years of dreaming, planning, and lots of hard work, Darlington’s Board of Trustees voted on Friday, Sept. 17, to begin the construction of a new and long-awaited student athletic center. The new facility and cornerstone of the Campaign for Darlington will be named the A.J. Huffman ’67 Memorial Athletic Center.
The Huffman Memorial Athletic Center will be constructed between Chris Hunter Stadium and the existing Activities Building and Natatorium, which will be totally renovated. The new facility will contain approximately 85,000 square feet of new construction on two levels.
Adding the renovated Activities Building space, the facility will devote nearly 100,000 square feet to athletic activities, lifetime fitness, and numerous all-school functions. Architecturally, the exterior of the facility is designed to blend with and enhance existing campus architecture.
The Huffman Memorial Athletic Center has been made possible through the leadership and generosity of 90 members of the Darlington community who collectively have committed the $16 million to fund construction of the facility.
The Darlington community’s overwhelming response to two anonymous challenges totaling $3.5 million took the construction funding for the project over the top on the day before the Trustees’ historic vote.
At this time last year, $3.4 million had been committed to the project; since then, over $12.5 million in new commitments have been received. The Darlington campus is buzzing with the news.
“This facility will be an amazing asset to our community,” Athletic Director Jerry Sharp said. “The people who stepped up to make this happen are greatly appreciated by Darlington’s faculty and students.”
“The new athletic center will give all of us, from the athlete to the non-athlete, a sense of pride in Darlington,” said Middle School Principal Jim Van Es, who also coaches boys basketball. “It is going to be a real jewel, something everyone can be proud of. It will be wonderful to watch it go up.”
Site work, which will include the demolition of the Lanier House, will tentatively begin in early 2000, to be followed by the official groundbreaking, which is planned for May. If all goes according to schedule, the Huffman Memorial Athletic Center will be ready in time for the opening of school in August 2001.
The center will enable the school to hold state championship tournaments in a number of sports. It will allow all Darlington’s basketball teams to practice on campus, after years of renting Floyd College’s facilities. It will make indoor practices possible for all teams in the event of inclement weather and provide an indoor forum for events such as dances and commencement exercises. It will allow many more students to participate in sports and conditioning programs and encourage the school to explore a broader range of life sports options for all students. And it will give girls locker room facilities comparable to those of boys.
“The new facility will change the appearance of the campus and improve the quality of sporting activities we can offer our students,” said Headmaster David Rhodes, who also noted that the center’s large weight room will allow the fitness room in the Zelle Fine Arts Center to be turned over to the growing instrumental music program.
Sharp expects the facility to sharpen the quality of Darlington’s athletic program: “The new weight room will be more conducive to the size of our student body,” he said. “The previous weight facilities were small and cramped. The new one will make it possible for our students to work out more frequently and more thoroughly.”
Including the successful funding of the new athletic center, the Campaign for Darlington is approaching $40 million in total commitments. But President David Hicks was quick to point out that the Campaign is far from over:
“Sixteen million dollars was the level of commitment needed before the Board could decide to go ahead with construction of the new facility, but it is not the entire cost of the facility. In order to operate and maintain the new facility, we need to raise an additional maintenance endowment restricted for this purpose.”
In addition to a maintenance endowment, the Campaign must secure endowments for student scholarships and faculty chairs, capital gifts for other priority uses, and gifts to meet the 1999-2000 Annual Fund goal of $1,464,000. The Campaign for Darlington will conclude on June 30, 2000.
The Huffman Memorial Athletic Center will be constructed between Chris Hunter Stadium and the existing Activities Building and Natatorium, which will be totally renovated. The new facility will contain approximately 85,000 square feet of new construction on two levels.
Adding the renovated Activities Building space, the facility will devote nearly 100,000 square feet to athletic activities, lifetime fitness, and numerous all-school functions. Architecturally, the exterior of the facility is designed to blend with and enhance existing campus architecture.
The Huffman Memorial Athletic Center has been made possible through the leadership and generosity of 90 members of the Darlington community who collectively have committed the $16 million to fund construction of the facility.
The Darlington community’s overwhelming response to two anonymous challenges totaling $3.5 million took the construction funding for the project over the top on the day before the Trustees’ historic vote.
At this time last year, $3.4 million had been committed to the project; since then, over $12.5 million in new commitments have been received. The Darlington campus is buzzing with the news.
“This facility will be an amazing asset to our community,” Athletic Director Jerry Sharp said. “The people who stepped up to make this happen are greatly appreciated by Darlington’s faculty and students.”
“The new athletic center will give all of us, from the athlete to the non-athlete, a sense of pride in Darlington,” said Middle School Principal Jim Van Es, who also coaches boys basketball. “It is going to be a real jewel, something everyone can be proud of. It will be wonderful to watch it go up.”
Site work, which will include the demolition of the Lanier House, will tentatively begin in early 2000, to be followed by the official groundbreaking, which is planned for May. If all goes according to schedule, the Huffman Memorial Athletic Center will be ready in time for the opening of school in August 2001.
The center will enable the school to hold state championship tournaments in a number of sports. It will allow all Darlington’s basketball teams to practice on campus, after years of renting Floyd College’s facilities. It will make indoor practices possible for all teams in the event of inclement weather and provide an indoor forum for events such as dances and commencement exercises. It will allow many more students to participate in sports and conditioning programs and encourage the school to explore a broader range of life sports options for all students. And it will give girls locker room facilities comparable to those of boys.
“The new facility will change the appearance of the campus and improve the quality of sporting activities we can offer our students,” said Headmaster David Rhodes, who also noted that the center’s large weight room will allow the fitness room in the Zelle Fine Arts Center to be turned over to the growing instrumental music program.
Sharp expects the facility to sharpen the quality of Darlington’s athletic program: “The new weight room will be more conducive to the size of our student body,” he said. “The previous weight facilities were small and cramped. The new one will make it possible for our students to work out more frequently and more thoroughly.”
Including the successful funding of the new athletic center, the Campaign for Darlington is approaching $40 million in total commitments. But President David Hicks was quick to point out that the Campaign is far from over:
“Sixteen million dollars was the level of commitment needed before the Board could decide to go ahead with construction of the new facility, but it is not the entire cost of the facility. In order to operate and maintain the new facility, we need to raise an additional maintenance endowment restricted for this purpose.”
In addition to a maintenance endowment, the Campaign must secure endowments for student scholarships and faculty chairs, capital gifts for other priority uses, and gifts to meet the 1999-2000 Annual Fund goal of $1,464,000. The Campaign for Darlington will conclude on June 30, 2000.
