New dugouts, new locker rooms
By Deborah Lilly
Improvements continue at the Kardatzke Wellness Center and athletic fields thanks to the support of donors. Some of the most recent changes include new dugouts at the baseball field and new locker rooms in the old east gym.
Plans were originally made in the mid-90s to replace the dugouts at the baseball field, but a shortage of finances halted the building project. Unfortunately, the old dugouts had already been demolished, and they were replaced with small buildings made out of scrap wood that were poor in quality and appearance.
In 1999 and 2000 two couples — Ron and Carol Baker and Terry BA ’88 and Kim (Norholm) BA ’86 McCardwell — contributed a substantial amount of money to a project to replace the dugouts. Their gifts were matched and then additional baseball alumni were contacted to complete the funds necessary for the $55,000 project.
The new dugouts were built last spring with Jerry Helvey BA ’67 as project manager for the construction. “What we have now are two 60-foot long brick dugouts,” said Mike Zapolski, athletic director at Anderson University. Both dugouts have a 12-foot storage area to store equipment for field maintenance. New benches, bat racks, and helmet racks were built this winter by the university’s carpentry staff.
“Coach Brandon and his staff and players have been really excited about the project,” added Zapolski. Not only will this season feature completely new dugouts, but the Raven team will also be sporting new uniforms with the new Raven logo.
Inside the Kardatzke Wellness Center, the baseball team is enjoying new locker rooms.
“Over the course of this past summer, the old east gym was renovated as part of the Phase II of the Wellness Center Project,” Zapolski explained. Half of the gym is now used for physical education classes and classes for the School of Music. The other half of the facility has been divided into two locker areas. The largest locker room will be used by the football and baseball teams during their seasons, while the smaller locker room will be used by the men’s soccer and track teams.
This frees up space in the Kardatzke Wellness Center for the women’s teams. “The wood from the wood bleachers in the east gym is being used by a local craftsman to construct 46 stadium-like lockers for the small locker room area,” said Zapolski.
In the larger locker room, a drive has been underway to fund the lockers called the Legacy Locker Program. People who donate to this program have the opportunity to have a former baseball or football player’s name, number, and years they played engraved on a plate and placed on a locker.
“It’s a unique way to tie alumni back to the program,” Zapolski said. “The nice thing about it is that it’s ongoing. As we have young men going through these programs, they’ll have the opportunity to contribute back and put their name on a locker.”
The minimum donation required to participate in the program is $200. For more information, contact the Office of Development at (800) 421-1025.
New locker rooms may not seem like a big deal, but as Zapolski explained, “A lot of relationships are built in the locker room, a lot of emotions are expressed in the locker room, teaching happens in this space, so there was a real desire to make it a first-class facility.”
The athletic department is planning a celebration at Homecoming inviting donors and friends to tour the new locker rooms and take pictures of the lockers with their nameplates.
