Athletic Upgrades

Jon Gardiner

Robert Pascal '56 received a lot of advice back home not to do it. Friends told him that with the current economic situation it was not the right time to make a donation of that magnitude. But for Pascal and Steve Brooks '70, the moment for Duke football couldn't have been better.

Second-year head coach David Cutcliffe, standing in the Yoh building in front of donors and his coaching staff, announced that Pascal and Brooks together had pledged $10 million to the Duke football program the day before the 2009 spring football game.

"These are tough times," Pascal says. "To wait gives up another two or three years of not having the things in place to go out and recruit. I thought it had to be done now."

"We think even with these trying economic times, it will encourage other people to step up," Brooks says.

The donation will go toward upgrading Duke's facilities, including outdoor practice fields, the visiting-team locker room, and a field house featuring a full-length practice field. The upgrades to the practice facilities will culminate eventually with additions to Wallace Wade Stadium.

"This is just the right time because a lot of the public schools have to cut back their funding on big projects," Brooks says. "This is the time for us to catch up and let coach have the facilities he needs in order to recruit the kids we need to win."

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