[BAYLOR FOOTBALL] Baylor Announces Timeline, Additional Details of Fudge Football Operations Center

[Kaye, David]

Renderings available for download here: https://baylor.box.com/s/oaknkrb9i9kjj54rcukc8f74ksaxbkqi
Website: https://baylorbears.com/feature/fudge-football-operations-center

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Nov. 8, 2021


Baylor Announces Timeline, Additional Details of Fudge Football Operations Center
Fudge Football Operations Center will add more than 100,000 square feet of new space for BU football
For more information contact: David Kaye, 254-709-5147, David_Kaye at baylor.edu<mailto:David_Kaye at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor University today announced a construction timeline and additional details on the Fudge Football Operations Center, with groundbreaking scheduled by summer 2022.

The recently announced naming of the Fudge Football Operations Center is made possible from the immense generosity of Jeremy and Kristy Fudge of Parker, Texas, and their philanthropic $15 million gift to the Give Light Campaign. This generous gift, part of which will support the Give Light Capital Fund, will be celebrated through recognition in the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, the Baylor Basketball Pavilion, and the planned Football Operations Center. In recognition and appreciation of the family’s legacy of support for Baylor and Baylor Athletics, the university named the Fudge Football Operations Center in their honor.

“We celebrate the generosity of Jeremy and Kristy and their support of the Give Light Campaign’s priorities,” said Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D. “The Give Light Campaign has created exciting new support for scholarships and critical resourcing for faculty endowment, and we are grateful for Baylor Family members like Jeremy and Kristy who have stepped forward to support the University’s priorities. We are touched by their commitment to helping us reach these lofty goals and their desire to impact the experiences of all our Baylor students.”

The Fudges’ gift to the Give Light Capital Fund will provide significant funding toward Baylor’s goal of reaching $150 million in remaining capital project support prior to June 2022. As part of the Give Light Campaign, a $1.1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign, the University set a goal of raising $300 million in capital support. Naming level gifts to the Give Light Capital Fund will be celebrated with public recognition in facilities across campus, including the newly renovated Tidwell Bible Building, the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, the Baylor Basketball Pavilion, the Fudge Football Operations Center and others. In addition to the naming of the Fudge Football Operations Center, the Fudges’ gift will be recognized through the naming of the Fudge Auditorium within the Hurd Welcome Center.

“This is an exciting time to be part of the Baylor Family, and we are incredibly grateful for the generosity of Jeremy and Kristy Fudge and their support of Baylor Athletics and our football program,” said Mack B. Rhoades, IV, Baylor Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “Jeremy and Kristy have long been supporters of all our student-athletes and coaches, and the Fudge Football Operations Center will build off that legacy in supporting generations of student-athletes within the Baylor Football program. This is an incredible gift and resource for Football Head Coach Dave Aranda and our football program as they continue their pursuit to become the best program in Texas.”

“We are so grateful for Jeremy and Kristy Fudge, and the dedication they have shown to the Baylor Football program,” said football head coach Dave Aranda. “Their transformational gift allows our Football Program to take a critical step forward with the construction of the Fudge Football Operations Center. The building carrying their name will allow us to serve and develop our student-athletes at an unprecedented level.”

The Baylor Basketball Pavilion and the Fudge Football Operations Center are two priority capital projects for Baylor Athletics. The Basketball Pavilion will be designed with home-court advantage as a priority and an emphasis on fan experience, including a reduced capacity for 7,000 fans and improved sight lines and state-of-the-art video and audio capabilities to increase fan enjoyment. The Pavilion will also house practice gyms with extra shooting area, office suites for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball coaching staffs, team locker rooms and lounges, academic rooms, equipment rooms, athletic performance and nutrition spaces, as well as meeting rooms including the Fudge Men’s Basketball Conference Room.

The Fudge Football Operations Center will connect to the Allison Indoor Practice Facility, expanding the 80-yard indoor turf field to 100 yards and creating more than 100,000 square feet of new space for the Baylor Football program. The Fudge Center will include offices for coaches, equipment staff, medical trainers and a locker room for student-athletes, as well as a medical training room, equipment distribution room, a strength and conditioning weight room and a large team meeting room.

“In business and in our personal lives, our family has always lived by the motto ‘Pursue the Exceptional’, and we are proud to support Baylor University in their pursuit of excellence,” said Jeremy Fudge. “As Christians, we are called to pursue excellence in everything we do, as an act of worship and obedience. At Baylor, our excellence can be a testimony to our Christian faith on a national stage, and we are excited to join the good work they are doing through our gift to support these programs, people and priorities as they continue Preparing Champions for Life.”

The Basketball Pavilion and the Fudge Football Operations Center will open up space within Baylor Athletics’ other buildings for greater use by the University’s other 18 collegiate athletic programs. The Baylor Volleyball and Acrobatics & Tumbling programs will move into the spaces vacated by the basketball programs within the Ferrell Center. The move of the Football Program to the Fudge Center will create much-needed office space, program space for Baylor’s Student-Athlete Center for Excellence, and it will increase access for student-athletes to the weight room and training facilities within the Simpson Athletics and Academic Center.

The Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center will be the front door to Baylor University’s campus. A 136,000-square-foot complex, the Hurd Welcome Center will serve as the entry point for prospective students and their families, telling the story of Baylor and inviting students to see themselves in the traditions and academic opportunities that are inherent in a Baylor education. The Hurd Welcome Center will also serve the University’s approximately 150,000 living alumni as a gathering place to reconnect with classmates and become reacquainted with their alma mater. The complex will feature spaces such as a light-filled Grand Hall, the Fudge Auditorium featuring a panoramic view of campus and a ballroom with capacity for 1,000 guests, greatly enhancing the University’s event space, as well as an alumni living room complete with a boardroom and meeting spaces to facilitate alumni returning to campus.

Jeremy Fudge earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Baylor University in 1997. He currently serves as managing partner for Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP, the leading U.S. corporate immigration law firm. He leads the firm’s operations, casts vision and strategy and drives the firm’s mission and culture. Jeremy joined BAL in 2007 as a Senior Associate, and in 2008 became a Partner, having previously worked as an associate for Jenkens & Gilchrist as well as for Jackson Walker LLP. Kristy is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. She and Jeremy are parents to four daughters: Brynna, Addison, Calley and Delaynie. Kristy is an active community volunteer, serving on the board of the National Charity League, as well various other committees and boards at their daughters’ schools. Kristy became connected to Baylor through her husband and was recognized recently as a new Alumna By Choice in 2021.

Jeremy and Kristy, who are members of the Baylor Bear Foundation, previously provided the first endowment gift to Baylor Athletics’ Baylor Built program, dedicating to Preparing Champions for Life by providing workshops and seminars to student-athletes to enhance their development and character formation alongside their academic and on-field success.

The Fudges are also generous in giving of their time to the University. As at-large campus representatives committed to the success of the “Give Light” campaign, Jeremy and Kristy provide support to the campaign and serve as Baylor ambassadors within their community.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 19,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.



--

David Kaye | Assistant AD for Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-709-5147

[signature_701622072]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/fbmedia/attachments/20211108/5af91a59/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20333 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/fbmedia/attachments/20211108/5af91a59/attachment-0001.png>