Talking Fields and Sports Facilities at MSU
Well yeah…
John H. Kobs was hired as the baseball coach at Michigan Agricultural College in 1924 – as basketball coach too. For 38 years he served as the head coach of the Aggies’/Spartans’ baseball team (until 1963), winning 574 games to 377 losses and 16 ties – a .602 win rate. With his ‘54 team winning the Big Ten Conference, NCAA District playoffs, and finishing third in the College World Series. It makes sense the baseball field was named after him [operative word, “was”].
Jeff Ishbia, probably a nice enough guy, is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School. Sure sure, we all know who Mat Ishbia is – a three-year walk-on to the MSU basketball team for the 1999-2002 seasons; took the last shot of the 2000 Natty – eventually made money, bought most of the Suns, and generously gives back to the University’s athletics department regularly.
Thank you Mat for the donation(s) to (among other things) at least give our Baseball Team a shot at respectability again. Though, really, broken Board who approves these things?? We had a field named after a Spartan Legend swapped out for a dad who didn’t even attend… we get it, sorta – the donor writes the checks and they call the shots… so no one pushed for even a plaque of Kobs out front?
We know, we know… Drayton McLane is also a (Business School) alum and former owner of the Astros who named the stadium after himself when he donated a big chunk of change for it in 2008. Water under the bridge now for Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium .
However, we still have several other sports facilities named appropriately, though that could change with the additional fundraising inevitable to support the not exactly sane, dynamic financial landscape for college athletics these days. Going Forward let’s set the naming rights pricing much much higher. Among the other facilities:
- Spartan Stadium
- Breslin Student Events Center – “Mr. MSU,” Jack Breslin was the captain and MVP of the 1945 football team. Jack additionally earned letters in baseball and basketball and was elected senior class president in 1946. Breslin went on to work for the university for more than 30 years, including as vice president for administration and public affairs from 1969-1986 and as a senior consultant to former MSU President Dr. John DiBaggio into the early 1990’s. Breslin passed in 1988.
- DeMartin Soccer Stadium – Named with a $750k donation towards the ~$3M renovation of the prior fields – the largest donation ever made to support an Olympic sport at MSU. Donors Doug & Valerie DeMartin – alumna themselves from the early 80s, also had a nephew by the same name on the Men’s soccer squad at MSU who happened to score 38 goals and tally 85 points over his ‘04-’08 career in the Green & White. The younger Doug earned Big Ten Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Big Ten Championship, NSCAA second team All-America, and First-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America. He was taken No. 22 overall in the 2009 MLS Draft. *The Stadium itself was actually dedicated to Doug’s parents, Roland and Louise DeMartin – uofm graduates… who over their years in the Lansing area did become Spartan Fans. Nice.
- Forest Akers Golf Courses – Forest Akers may be the only course(s) in the country recognized as an arboretum. Akers attended the M.A.C. from 1905 to 1908 and was the star pitcher of the Aggies baseball team. A prankster who detonated a powder keg during a campus speech by President Theodore Roosevelt which, apparently, could be heard for miles – he was asked to leave M.A.C. shortly after. Asked about the expulsion decision later in life, Akers replied, “They were never, in all their history, more right.” Generous throughout his impressive career close to E.L., Forest himself donated the land and money to build the two courses that bear his name. He also donated money for scholarships and established a trust fund in the early 1960s – $1 million of which was used to imbue the marching band practice field with artificial turf, bleachers for spectators and a tower for band staffers in 2014. Another $1 million later went to refurbish Bessey Hall. He also gave money to students who encountered financial difficulties. Akers died in 1966 at age 79.
- Grand River Park – MSU Boat House
- Jenison Field House – Named for engineering alumnus Frederick Cowles Jenison (1902-’07), who died a millionaire in 1939, gifting his entire estate to the the M.A.C. – which paid for the Fieldhouse and upgrades to an old “Faculty Row” house to become Cowles House.
- Lasch Family Golf Center – named for Richard W. (Rick) – a 1990 Marketing Alum – and Suzanne Lasch who made a $2 million gift toward the building. Bob and Julie Skandalaris gave the leading gift to the golf center with $3 million, but requested the naming opportunity for the facility remained open in their hope to motivate other donors. Outside the Lasch Family Golf Center is the recently updated 20,000-square-foot Fox Family Putting Green.
- MSUFCU Club at Spartan Stadium – named for the bank.
- MSU Indoor Tennis Center
- MSU Outdoor Tennis Center
- Ralph Young Field – Ralph served as Michigan State Athletic Director from 1923 – 1954 – which included navigating the joining of the Big Ten Conference – and at the time the role also meant coaching a few teams on campus as well – including football and track. His track teams from 1923 – 1940 produced twenty-seven All-Americans, four U.S. Olympians, and three world record holders.
- Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena – Named in honor of late Spartan football coach and athletic director Biggie Munn, with the ice surface dedicated in honor of the late, longtime, legendary hockey coach and athletic director Ron Mason.
- Secchia Stadium – The Softball Stadium was named In recognition of a $1 million – the largest outright cash gift received by an MSU women’s intercollegiate sports program – from alumnus Ambassador Peter F. Secchia, a ‘63 alum.
- Smith Academic Center – In 1997, Steve Smith, a former MSU basketball All-American, 14-year NBA veteran, Dream Team member, and 2003 NBA Champion, donated $2.5 million toward the construction of the Clara Bell Smith Student Athlete Academic Center in memory of his mother. At the time the donation was the largest gift ever by a professional athlete to any college or university and helped fund the construction of the $7.5 million facility, a comprehensive study center for student-athletes.
- TBD Olympic Sports Facility – coming soon
So the Survey to you, Dear TOC Nation… which of these names do you hold most holy?
Any additional thoughts? What should be the total revenue naming rights to all of MSU’s facilities should bring in, and how often?
Which Facilities do you Definitely want to see renamed?
And what other athletics department things should have naming and sponsorship rights sold for – e.g. practice fields, the football trailer, tailgating lots…?
I think I just made myself vomit in the back of my throat a bit. Go Green.
Dale Young-Imagn Images