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Jerry Jones Donates $10.65 Million To Razorback Athletics

The gift will help support a number of campus projects including the new Student-Athlete Success Center, which has been recommended be named the Jerry and Gene ...
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Former Razorback football player and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his wife, Gene, have made a gift of $10.65 million to Razorback Athletics, it was announced today.

The gift will help support a number of campus projects, including the new Student-Athlete Success Center, which has been recommended be named the Jerry and Gene Jones Family Student-Athlete Success Center.

The Jerry and Stephen Jones Locker Room in the Fred W. Smith Football Center is the new daily home of Razorback football and is named after the two former players. Jerry Jones was a captain on the 1964 national championship team. His son, Stephen, played for the Hogs from 1984-1987.

“The University of Arkansas is a special place and has meant so much to me and our entire family,” Jerry Jones said. “We are honored to have the opportunity to give back to an institution, an athletics program and a state that has been such an instrumental part of our lives. My experiences at the University of Arkansas as a student-athlete under the legendary Coach Frank Broyles helped shape me as a man and guide me on my future career path. I would not be where I am today without those life lessons learned as a student-athlete at the University of Arkansas.”

The Student-Athlete Success Center will become the new home of the Bogle Academic Center and will help meet the needs of student-athletes by providing multiple learning environments, including academic advising and course preparation, leadership training through the Razorback Leadership Academy, career planning and service learning. The facility is being constructed at the corner of Meadow Street and Stadium Drive between Pomfret Hall and John McDonnell Field and is targeted for completion in late summer or early fall 2015.

The approximate 55,000 square-foot facility will include 30 or more tutor rooms, 5,000 square feet of open study and lounge space and 3,800 square feet of computer and group lab space. It also will include an auditorium of 125 or more seats, a multi-purpose room of 90 or more seats, and a nutrition center with a full-service kitchen and seating for more than 250 student-athletes. In addition, the facility will include a wellness wing for a sports psychologist and dietitians as well as areas specific to student-athlete development and accelerated learning.

“We are grateful to the Jones family for their extraordinary gift which will directly benefit the development of Razorback student-athletes for many years to come,” Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said. “It is only fitting that the Jones family, which is committed to the ideals of higher education and has been so deeply intertwined with the University of Arkansas for decades, is an integral part of the most impactful intercollegiate athletics’ facility we will have on campus. The Jerry and Gene Jones Family Student-Athlete Success Center will serve as inspiration to all current and future Razorback student-athletes, reminding them of the limitless opportunities available when they combine a degree from a nationally respected institution with the invaluable experiences gained through competing in intercollegiate athletics at the University of Arkansas.”

The donation will also pay for a Wild Band of Razorbacks monument to establish a permanent tribute to the Razorbacks’ 1964 championship team.

On Dec. 31, 2014, Jones deeded approximately 256 acres of land to the Razorback Foundation. The land was independently appraised in March 2014 at a value of $8.65 Million. There are no immediate plans for use of the land.

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