December 1999
Employee
profile
Scott Murr
Furman
Forum
What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Simplifying
the Christmas Season
A column by David E. Shi.
Around
campus
News from university departments
Milestones
New employees, promotions, anniversaries
InsideFurman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
New stadium on deck for softball team
When the Furman softball team throws out the first pitch of the 2000 season February 16 against the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, you’ll have to excuse the players if part of their attention is directed across the street.
For just a right fielder’s throw away, the team’s new home, a 350-seat stadium, will be taking shape. Construction on Pepsi Stadium began this month and is scheduled to be completed in May, just weeks after the softball season ends.
"Unfortunately, we probably won’t be able to play in the new stadium this year, but we wanted to take our time and do this right," says softball coach Bonnie Flynn. "It will be fun watching everything come together from across the street."
John Block, vice president for intercollegiate athletics, has been working with Wayne Holcombe, Pepsi’s vice president and general manager, for more than a year to secure funding for the new stadium.
"We are grateful to Pepsi for their growing generosity, and we are especially excited about this new facility because it represents the final stage of our goal to provide the best athletic facilities for all of our teams," says Block. "This project will really enhance our women’s sports."
Ed Hancock of the Columbia architectural firm of Jenkins, Hancock and Sides designed the $250,000 stadium. Hancock, a softball coach, also designed the renovation of the University of South Carolina softball field.
The Furman softball team, which began as a varsity sport in 1979, played its games on the Ellis Band Practice Field until Varsity Field was constructed in 1984.