SPORTS

Donors step to the plate

as UC goes to work on Varsity Village
by John Bach

Green was certainly the color of the day inside Shoemaker Center March 17, 2003, and not only because it was St. Patrick's Day.

University officials accepted $10 million in cash from Fifth Third Bank that morning for the construction of Varsity Village, a week to the day after Richard Lindner committed $10.2 million to the same cause.

" We are doing this on every Monday or Tuesday," joked UC President Joseph Steger, in acceptance. "We need to find somebody for next week."

Though a third million-dollar Monday did not materialize, the athletics department is still well on its way toward an $80.3 million enhancement of its athletics complex, a move, officials say, will position all 18 varsity sports among the nation's elite. Some of the features of the project, which started in April, include an eight-story athletics center, a relocated baseball stadium, a tennis center and a renovated track and soccer venue.

In recognition of Lindner's generosity, the largest gift from an individual to one project in the university's history, UC's new complex will be named the Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village, and the new athletics center, the centerpiece of Varsity Village, will be named the Richard E. Lindner Center. Lindner is president of REL Group, a Greater Cincinnati-based holding company, and is former owner of the Thriftway supermarket chain.

The new facility will be the second on campus to bear the Lindner name. The first was the College of Business' Carl H. Lindner Hall, named after Richard's older brother, who has also given generously to UC.

"The University of Cincinnati is proud to be associated with Richard Lindner, a quiet benefactor who has assisted many worthy programs in the community," Steger said. "The difference this makes in the lives of everybody who comes through here we cannot even estimate."

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