Winning Support For Student-athletes

Baylor Athletics wrapped up its five-year "Victory With Integrity" Campaign with a celebratory weekend Jan. 23-24, capping the campaign with the dedication of the Hurd Tennis Building.

"During the course of this campaign, we've had about 6,000 people who have made contributions to 'Victory With Integrity','' Athletics Director Ian McCaw said at the celebration. "And while the gifts went to buildings and scholarships and the Bear Foundation and various other designations, truly all the gifts went to invest in young people like our 450 student-athletes."

Since its launch in February 2005, the campaign raised over $95 million, topping the original goal of $90 million. Among many projects, the campaign's fundraising allowed for the construction of the Lt. Jack Whetsel Jr. Basketball Practice Facility and Willis Family Equestrian Center in 2006; the Harrington Recruiting Center in 2007; the Highers Athletics Complex and Simpson Athletics and Academic Center in 2008; and the Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility and major renovations at the Hurd Tennis Building in 2009. The facility enhancements will culminate with the dedication of the Ted and Sue Getterman Softball Practice Facility later this spring.

From the lobby to the locker rooms, the home of Baylor tennis received extensive renovations over the last few months, bringing the Hurd Tennis Building--now named for HP Chairman, CEO and President Mark Hurd and his wife, Paula, who generously contributed to the project--up to the same standard of excellence at which Baylor's tennis programs have performed for the past decade.

Other lead gift donors during the Victory with Integrity Campaign included Jay and Jenny Allison, Ted and Sue Getterman, Jim and Nell Hawkins, the late Alwin O. and Dorothy Highers, Bob Simpson and XTO Energy, Julie and Jim Turner, Jack and Martha Whetsel, Richard and Karen Willis and the late Richard W. "Bootsie" George.

Over the campaign's five-year run, Baylor has won one national championship (women's basketball in 2005) and 23 Big 12 Conference championships--the second-most in the league in that span. Nearly 150 Bears earned all-America honors, 10 won NCAA individual national championships, and 466 student-athletes graduated from Baylor.

"It's been the best five-year period in the history of Baylor Athletics," McCaw said. "And it's no coincidence that it came through the course of this campaign where we had so much generous support from our donors."