The development office has announced a RISE Campaign gift of $150,000 from Tom and Mary Herche, of Seattle, whose son Charlie ’09 played baseball for the Pilots. The gift will help finance improvements of Joe Etzel Field, formerly Pilot Stadium, which was completed prior to the 1988 baseball season. The stadium was renamed in the summer of 2004 in honor of former Portland athletic director and long-time head baseball coach Joe Etzel.
The first phase of the baseball stadium upgrade includes installing artificial turf, stadium lights, and outfield/perimeter fencing. Pending continued fundraising progress, the athletic department would like to begin construction on the first phase as early as the conclusion of the 2014 season with other phases to follow in subsequent years.
The Herche family gift is part of the RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million by 2014. The RISE Campaign, which has raised more than $162 million to date, is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university. For more information go to http://rise.up.edu/ or contact the development office at 7395.