It's Official - Werth Family | Page 3 | The Boneyard

It's Official - Werth Family

Status
Not open for further replies.
The Viking said:
I'm sure at some point Jacobs will have an article about this very topic.
Expand ...

Jacobs didn't wait very long to bring it up.

http://www.ctnow.com/sports/hc-jacobs-col-first-night-uconn-1018-20141017,0,4089585.column?page=1

Yet I look at the list of former basketball players who have donated money to the new facility as part of the Nayden family challenge match and I see a long, long list of women's players. Diana Taurasi, Bird, Rebecca Lobo, Kalana Greene and on and on and on. The men? I see a very, very short list. There are some older players, but to be honest, Ollie, Randy LaVigne and Steve Pikiell are the names I recognize.

According to associate athletic director for communications Mike Enright, who oversaw the tour of the facilities, $33.5 of the $39 million has been raised. That leaves about $5.5 million.

My question is why can't all those players who made millions upon millions in the NBA step up and finish the job? A former UConn soccer player, Tony Rizza, just gave $8 million for a new stadium.....

I tried to add up the career earnings of all the UConn players in the NBA and drew close to a billion dollars. Yes, $1 billion. Bird said when she received an email about raising funds for the facility, she immediately knew she'd do something......

Maybe I'm missing something, but with nearly $1 billion earned out of UConn, surely helping to close out $5.5 million doesn't seem like an outrageous notion.

 
This issue will not go away.

It's just too darn odd for folks not to notice.
 
lol this thread is ridiculous, instead of being thankful for the donation and talking about how friggin amazing
Palatine said:
This issue will not go away.

It's just too darn odd for folks not to notice.
Expand ...
they really need to get over it. We wanted and need a facility. We got it. Move on
 
Maybe it wasn't for this facility, but I'm pretty sure that Donyell for one has donated a ton of money to UConn. I don't know about other players. Some donors ask that their names not be used as well, so who knows. Major non-issue.

The place was built and when you come right down to it, in the grand scheme of things, a hoops practice facility doesn't rank very high, so it should just be appreciated for what it is. All I know is that when the football facility was built, there was some feeling that a decent number of high level recruits would be falling all over themselves to become Huskies. How has that worked out? The hoops teams seem not to have suffered from having to use the old arrangement. Seems like recruits might be impressed by a facility, but something else actually gets them to sign on the dotted line.
 
UConnSwag11 said:
lol this thread is ridiculous, instead of being thankful for the donation and talking about how friggin amazing

they really need to get over it. We wanted and need a facility. We got it. Move on
Expand ...
Tough to move on when $5.5MM more is needed
 
.-.
UConnSwag11 said:
lol this thread is ridiculous, instead of being thankful for the donation and talking about how friggin amazing

they really need to get over it. We wanted and need a facility. We got it. Move on
Expand ...

If you think this will disappear, I think you are mistaken.

Be honest, what did you think when you first heard that no NBA alum (save Ollie) had donated?
 
Palatine said:
If you think this will disappear, I think you are mistaken.

Be honest, what did you think when you first heard that no NBA alum (save Ollie) had donated?
Expand ...
For a minute I thought why didn't they donate? Then I thought this facility is awesome, thanks for all who donated. This is really going to help the program. Thanks to everyone
 
I don't think it's fair to criticize former players for not donating without knowing the entire story - after all, it's their money, and they have the right to do whatever they want with it. (Plus, we don't know if there were external factors pressuring them against it.)

But I do think it's fair to question why none of them donated. Like Palatine said, it just comes across as very strange.

However, with all the positivity to come out of this week regarding UConn athletics, this isn't what I'm gonna choose to pay attention to.
 
UConn990411 said:
I don't think it's fair to criticize former players for not donating without knowing the entire story - after all, it's their money, and they have the right to do whatever they want with it. (Plus, we don't know if there were external factors pressuring them against it.)

But I do think it's fair to question why none of them donated. Like Palatine said, it just comes across as very strange.

However, with all the positivity to come out of this week regarding UConn athletics, this isn't what I'm gonna choose to pay attention to.
Expand ...
agreed it's strange but why continue to dwell on something that didnt stop the building of the facility? we don't know why they didnt donate and plus we have the facility regardless
 
UConnSwag11 said:
agreed it's strange but why continue to dwell on something that didnt stop the building of the facility? we don't know why they didnt donate and plus we have the facility regardless
Expand ...
Because it's strange.

I paid for my UConn education and I donate every year. The university nags me multiple times a year. They send people to sit in my office and ask me to give.

I absolutely agree that a person can do what ever they want with their own money. It's their right. But the basketball program is a multimillionaire factory. So I was very surprised these folks didn't give back and understand why it puzzles others.

Maybe I'm just dumb but I don't get it.
 
.-.
Now that the building has been constructed without public funding, is in functional use for its intended purposes, and bears the name of the tremendously generous Werth Family, I offer a simple pair of suggestions:

1) For fundraising purposes, regard the Werth donations as though they represent a 'challenge grant' of sorts, and solicit a collective equal donation from UConn basketball alumni (NBA or not).

2) Upon successfully meeting such 'challenge,' an ampersand be appended to the facility's exterior so that it dually recognizes the largest donors - WERTH FAMILY & UCONN BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS CENTER.

Again, these are suggestions that could form the basis of related requests. They are not complaints, criticisms or demands, and they in no way detract from the success of the project or the many magnificent contributions thus far.
 
The Viking said:
I'm sure at some point Jacobs will have an article about this very topic.

Certainly is a head-scratcher. Maybe they were asked to steer their cash into a different direction or something else that is on the horizon.

I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but it's certainly interesting to say the least.
Expand ...
If he hasn't he will now. He draws a lot from this site.

What fascinates me with the Eeyore crowd is this notion that the players owe the university, that their charity it isn't a matter of choice.

tumblr_m8zso5zM1l1rb0jvjo1_500.jpg


My wash room? Probably not, but some days it sure feels like my message board is.
 
Hans Sprungfeld said:
Now that the building has been constructed without public funding, is in functional use for its intended purposes, and bears the name of the tremendously generous Werth Family, I offer a simple pair of suggestions:

1) For fundraising purposes, regard the Werth donations as though they represent a 'challenge grant' of sorts, and solicit a collective equal donation from UConn basketball alumni (NBA or not).

2) Upon successfully meeting such 'challenge,' an ampersand be appended to the facility's exterior so that it dually recognizes the largest donors - WERTH FAMILY & UCONN BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS CENTER.

Again, these are suggestions that could form the basis of related requests. They are not complaints, criticisms or demands, and they in no way detract from the success of the project or the many magnificent contributions thus far.
Expand ...

Great idea - Denis Nayden already did so.

Denis and Britta Nayden, alumni and longstanding donors to the University of Connecticut, have donated $3 million towards the new UConn Basketball Champions Center and for scholarships for student-athletes. A key feature of the gift is a challenge match to all former UConn Husky basketball players who contribute to the new center.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,239
Messages
4,559,323
Members
10,447
Latest member
Theuconnguy


Top Bottom