Largest DCAC gift ever

"When I arrived in Hanover last summer, I was told many times about the generosity and commitment of Dartmouth alumni," said Athletic Director Ted Leland upon receiving word of the largest gift ever made to the College in support of athletics. Of the $5 million given by John W. Berry '44 towards construction and renovation of a new athletic complex, Leland went on to say, "This extraordinary gift is positive proof of the special feelings between Dartmouth College and its alumni."

Berry, whose gift was announced during his class's 40th reunion in June, is chairman and chief executive officer of L.M. Berry & Co. of Dayton, Ohio. His firm, which specializes in telephone directory advertising, pioneered the yellow pages concept. He is also a director of a number of companies and foundations, a trustee of Ohio State and the University of Dayton, a member of the advisory council of Notre Dame Business School, and the recipient of an honorary doctor of public service degree from Rio Grande (Ohio) College. Berry and his family have long been major donors to Dartmouth. A member of the major gifts committees in the past two capital campaigns, Berry has made personal gifts exceeding $1 million to establish the Loren M. Berry Professorship in Economics, honoring his father. His father, not an alumnus, bequeathed the College another $1 million. Berry has also been a leader in 1944 reunion giving and Alumni Fund campaigns.

The Berry Sports Center, as the planned athletic facility will be known, will include construction of a new multipurpose sports pavilion along with renovation of Alumni Gym and Davis Field House. President McLaughlin noted that Berry's "generosity and support will provide the necessary leadership to achieve the long-awaited and badlyneeded upgrading of athletic facilities at Dartmouth." Berry's $5-million gift is seen as the torch to lead the search for the remaining $5 million required for the total project. "The John W. Berry Sports Center," said McLaughlin, "will take its place as the centerpiece of Dartmouth's sports complex that includes Thompson Arena, Leverone Field House, and Memorial Field all first-rate facilities."

Some major renovations to Alumni Gym are planned as part of the project. When it was built in 1911 for an all-male student body of 1,500, Alumni Gym was considered the nation's finest college athletic facility; now, 73 years old, it is sorely inadequate for the needs of 4,000 women and men undergraduates. The renovations to Alumni Gym will include conversion of the intercollegiate basketball court to open recreational space, modernization of the men's varsity and recreational locker rooms, expansion of the sports medicine complex, and addition of a physical fitness assessment laboratory. In addition, an aerobic training and dance area and a gymnastics area will be developed, and the thirdfloor recreational area will be modernized. There will also be an addition to the gym which will contain a 2,500-seat basketball pavilion for both intercollegiate and recreational play, seven squash courts, six racquetball courts, a 6,000-square-foot weight training and conditioning facility, four varsity locker rooms, a student lounge, and the ticket office. Finally, Davis Varsity House will be converted to house all DCAC's administrative offices.

"John Berry has proven himself a devoted friend of Dartmouth on many occasions in years past," concluded President McLaughlin. "His commitment to the excellence of the institution is far-reaching and now extends to his interest in assuring that the role of athletics in our liberal arts program is maintained at the same high level as the academic quality of the school."

Teetering at the tops of ladders some 50 feet tall, these painters apply to the trim of Sanborn House a few of the more than 8,000 gallons of paint that are used in sprucing up College buildings in any given year.