Enhancing Thompson Gymnasium

For more than 35 years, the Thompson Gymnasium athletic complex has supported a countless number of student athletes. This well-used building needs to be improved in order to meet the increased recreational needs of a larger student body and a greater number of athletic teams. To meet this need, Elizabethtown College is embarking on a $2.9 million fundraising drive to improve the Thompson Gymnasium athletic complex by:

• Renovating the pool
• Creating coaching/faculty offices
• Creating a conference room, Athletics Hall of Fame space
• Building new academic/intercollegiate teaching space

To make these enhancements become reality and ready for student use in August 2007, the College needs to raise $1.9 million by June 2007.

In the 1970's, the College had 12 teams and 1500 students. Today, the building suppports 22 teams (11 each for men and women) and almost 2,000 students.

Due to Thompson Gymnasium's age, almost doubling the number of teams it supports, increase in student enrollment, and an increase in community use, it can no longer adequately support students, coaches and our community. For years, the athletic complex has played an integral role in the lives and history of students and the College. Who can forget:

• The achievements of 4-time All American Swimmer Jaclyn Zimmerman '99
• 1982 and 1989 NCAA Women's Basketball Championships
• Eric Mast winning the NCAA Wrestling Championship twice
• Coach Yvonne Kauffman hitting the 900th win in Women's Basketball
• The excitement created when Coach Bob Schlosser took the 2001-2002 Men's Basketball team to the NCAA Final Four and reached the National Championship game

These teams, coaches, and programs have led to a continually increasing interest and participation in athletics by the student body. This interest has become so large that teams often do not have space where they can meet as a team and many coaching and faculty offices are located in trailers, which can greatly hamper recruitment of student athletes.

Over the past several years, the College has invested in enhancing athletic venues by building the new Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium to support the baseball team and the installation of a new track which will be able to host division competitions. Many schools in the region have or are upgrading their athletic center. The College needs to improve its facilities in order to provide current and prospective students with a facility that supports the high quality programming that students and alumni have come to expect from Elizabethtown College.

The Project

This addition/renovation project will help advance Elizabethtown College to a new level of competition. We have a long history of top-performing teams with an athletic program that leads among our peer institutions; however, our facilities fall short.

The $2.9 million project will renovate and add almost 17,500 square feet of space to the athletic facilities by adding 15 faculty/coaching offices, renovating the pool, creating a Hall of Fame and adding new teaching space. This space will support athletic teams, student courses, intramural sports activities, enhance recruitment of student athletes, provide adequate office space for faculty and coaches and benefit the well-being of the entire student body, not just varsity athletes.

It will also support community activities by being open to the public for summer conference programming, summer camps, community swimming lessons, community group meetings, basketball and wrestling tournaments as well as high school commencement activities.

All 1,900 Elizabethtown College students will utilize athletic space through participation in activities, attendance at events, or as members of teams. Approximately, 68% of students participate in intramural sports and 21% participate in varsity athletics.

The addition/renovation of Thompson Gymnasium will immensely help our teams be successful. Building our athletic programs will enhance Elizabethtown College's regional and national standing - a winning situation for everyone at Elizabethtown College.

Collegiate athletic programs have a history of bringing a school together by uniting students with a sense of pride in their chosen institution. We hope that you will join us by investing in helping to create facilities that will create a bright future for Elizabethtown College athletes and our community.


Athletics in the Spotlight

Varsity Programs 22
Intramural Teams/Athletes 91/1229
All-Americans 115
Academic All Americans 18
MAC Team Championships 63
Commonwealth Conference Team Championships 11
NCAA Division III Team Championships 3
NAIA Team Championships 1
NCAA Individual Sport Championships 3
AIAW Individual Sport Champsionships 1