Thunderbird Basketball Receives Second Large Donation

Largest Basketball Gift is Matched

              CEDAR CITY, Utah, April 4 – Last week, SUU announced the largest gift in its history earmarked for men’s basketball -- $50,000 – from industrialist Jon M. Huntsman.  One of Utah’s great philanthropists—and an enormous basketball fan—Huntsman later pledged that same amount for the five-year duration of Coach Roger Reid’s contract. His $250,000 gift was matched on Monday by Nolan Archibald, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Black & Decker Corporation. 

              “The SUU Athletic Department has never before seen such financial support—$500,000 over the next 5 years,” SUU President Michael Benson pointed out. “And, this infusion of funds will have an immediate impact on our basketball program. Even better, it raises the bar for ALL our athletic programs.”

              Archibald and Coach Reid were teammates at Weber State in the late 1960s and forged a strong friendship that has lasted for nearly 40 years. 

              “Roger Reid has a brilliant basketball mind and is one of the best coaches in America but he’s an even better human being and a great friend,” Archibald said. “The support that Jon Huntsman and I are extending to SUU basketball is a vote of confidence in the ability of Roger and his staff to build a winning tradition in Cedar City.  We hope our gifts will encourage others to support what Roger has planned for Thunderbird basketball.” 

              “It’s been a humbling experience to see people like this come forward,” Coach Reid noted. “I really appreciate Nolan. We were actually teammates on the only team in Utah that went to the NCAA tournament that year.”               

              “It’s so nice to see a person of Nolan’s integrity step up to help us be successful,” Reid added.

              Archibald is a graduate of Dixie College where he was an All American Basketball player, and Weber State where he was an Academic All-American. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School. Archibald has been CEO of Black & Decker since 1986, one of the longest tenures at any Fortune 500 company. Under his leadership, sales for Black & Decker have gone from $1.6 billion in 1985 to over $6.5 billion in 2005. 

              “To have the backing of these two individuals who have achieved so much in the business world speaks to the exciting future of our basketball program,” SUU Athletic Director Ken Beazer noted. “Our hope is that the local community will continue to support the improvement of all our athletic teams.”

               “You always try to teach that relationships with teammates are lifelong friendships and that the value of friendships is bigger than basketball,” Reid said. “Here is a great example of the kind of relationships you build on a team. Words can’t express how much this means to us.”

-- SUU --