JMU BREAKS GROUND FOR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE CENTER

HARRISONBURG (6/6/03) Ground-breaking ceremonies Friday for James Madison University's new $9.8 million Robert and Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center included several of the major donors to the project.

More than $7 million was raised by JMU in private funds for the performance center.  That's the largest amount of donations ever made for a project at the university.  The remaining $2.8 million will come from JMU reserves and other non-tax sources.  No tax money will be used for the project.

The building will be named in honor of the Pleckers, who are long-time supporters of the JMU athletics program.

The Pleckers took part in the ceremonial ground breaking, along with former JMU Rector Zane Showker, who contributed $2 million to the project.  The Bridgeforth family of Winchester, which contributed $1 million for the facility, also was recognized.  The late William E. Bridgeforth Jr. was a member of JMU's Board of Visitors from 1982 to 1990.  JMU's Showker Hall is named for Showker, and Bridgeforth Stadium, the university's football facility, is named for the Bridgeforth family.

Friday's 4 p.m. ceremony took place at the site of the performance center near the end zone of Bridgeforth Stadium nearest Interstate 81.  Also taking part in the activities were JMU President Linwood H. Rose, Athletics Director Jeffrey Bourne and Joe Funkhouser, who headed the fund drive for the center.

Bourne called the Plecker Center "a tremendous asset" to JMU athletics, and Dukes' football coach Mickey Matthews said the "building will allow us to recruit top student-athletes."

Funkhouser called the fund-raising project for the facility a "perfect example" of donors and university alumni working together and noted that the center will "touch many sports, not just football."

Rose thanked JMU's Board of Visitors for its support as well as the fund-raising project's many donors, both large and small, for their "lasting contribution" to JMU.  He also announced that in the fall the playing area at Bridgeforth Stadium will be named in honor of Showker.

At a spring meeting, JMU's Board of Visitors cited the Pleckers for "the vital role they are playing in developing and maintaining an outstanding athletic program at the university."

Rose praised the Pleckers for their support of JMU athletics "in good times and not-so-good times."  The Pleckers have also established the Plecker Athletic Scholarship at JMU.

Robert Plecker founded Truck and Equipment Corp. in 1957 and developed the company into a highly successful operation.  He sold the firm in 1997 to employees.

He was named 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce.  A veteran of World War II, Plecker was named Small Business Veteran of the Year in 2002.

Active in church work and with the Rockingham Memorial Hospital Foundation, Plecker is a former board member of JMU's Duke Club and has been active in the Elks and Rotary clubs.

Construction on the project is expected to begin later this month and to take about 18 months.  The 48,000-square foot structure will provide an academic support area for student-athletes in each of JMU's 28 intercollegiate sports, a sports medicine complex, a strength-training area, a new football locker room, meeting rooms and coaches' offices.

The performance center's academic complex will be named for Challace McMillin, JMU's first football coach and a professor in the university's kinesiology department since leaving coaching.  McMillin compiled a 67-56-1 (.544) record in 13 JMU seasons from 1972-84 and built a nationally competitive Division I-AA program.  Among his players were future professional standouts Gary Clark, Charles Haley and Scott Norwood.

The academic center will include a computer lab, tutoring space, meeting areas, and storage areas to maintain student-athlete files essential for monitoring NCAA continuing academic eligibility.

The performance center will be built on part of the area now occupied by the Bridgeforth Stadium track, but a new facility that will be the home of JMU's track and field programs currently is under construction near Reservoir Street.  In addition to a 400-meter track and areas for field events, the lighted facility will have an artificially surfaced playing area that will be used by the university's field hockey and lacrosse programs.

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