Student Center, Parking Ramp & Athletic and Recreation Facilities

Athletic success long has been a hallmark of St. Thomas, both as a men’s college for almost a century and as a coeducational college and university for more than 30 years. Student participation in varsity, intramural and informal recreational sports has contributed greatly to the St. Thomas experience for many generations of Tommies.

Today, facilities that once were the pride of the institution – and of athletes, in particular – are inadequate both functionally and in their ability to represent St. Thomas proudly to prospective students, visitors and alumni. O’Shaughnessy Hall, which houses the university’s swimming pool, weight room and locker rooms, was built 70 years ago for a student body of less than 900 and is nowhere near the quality of the facilities of many MIAC schools today. Coughlan Field House, which opened in 1981 with Schoenecker Arena, contains a 166-meter track – one of only three such undersized indoor tracks in North America – making it impossible for St. Thomas to host conference indoor track meets.  A 200-meter track is sorely needed, and required by the NCAA today in order to host indoor meets.

With an undergraduate student body that has been over 5,000 for more than a decade, St. Thomas desperately needs new athletic facilities for both varsity teams and the recreational activities of the university community.

As part of a very generous $60 million gift to St. Thomas’ Opening Doors capital campaign — the largest single gift ever to St. Thomas — trustee Lee Anderson and his wife, Penny, are providing a significant part of the funding for new athletic and recreational facilities, as well as for a much-needed new student center and a parking ramp. All three structures will be named in their honor.