{"id":3872,"date":"2015-08-20T06:52:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T10:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/02\/10\/sharon-and-scott-rankin-close-soccer-fieldhouse-fundraising-with-250000-gift\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T14:47:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T19:47:06","slug":"sharon-and-scott-rankin-close-soccer-fieldhouse-fundraising-with-250000-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/sharon-and-scott-rankin-close-soccer-fieldhouse-fundraising-with-250000-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon and Scott Rankin Close Soccer Field House Fundraising with $250,000 Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Soccer<\/a>

Complex set to be complete this October<\/p><\/div>\n

It was one of those down to the wire situations athletes know so well. The ready to be built soccer field house was nearing construction when a fire marshal review indicated a need for additional funds to finish the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the blueprints and the funding for a game-day facility. But the problems we faced with the fire marshal\u2019s inspection led to an opportunity to create a full time soccer operations building instead,\u201d says Clint Hill \u201903, director of athletic fundraising. \u201cHowever, we were going to need an additional $400,000 to get it done,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Hill and the soccer staff appealed to the \u201csoccer family\u201d once more. A story that began with the leadership of Jarrell \u201900\u00a0and Graham \u201800 Seagraves and the altruism of the Spinks Family\u00a0now had its final set of heroes. This spring, parents Sharon and Scott Rankin (daughter, Melanie \u201918) stepped up with the capstone gift of $250,000.<\/p>\n

The Rankins are leading philanthropists in their Pennsylvania community. \u201cMany people need help and someone has to do it. We do a lot of work with families in our area. In fact, we have six businesses and each one began with a business plan stating that\u00a010 percent of revenue must be given back to our community,\u201d says Scott.<\/p>\n

The Rankins\u2019 daughter, Melanie, is beginning her sophomore year\u00a0at Furman and is a member of the\u00a0womens soccer team. \u201cWhen one of our kids is going to a school we want to support it. We are all about giving to bricks and mortar. So, since Melanie plays soccer and attends Furman, this gift seemed like the perfect fit,\u201d Scott adds.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Rankins had never heard of Furman until Melanie became interested in the University. \u201cWhen we were looking, Furman really stood out because of the quality of the soccer program,\u201d Scott says. He hopes that the addition of the new soccer complex will change what he perceives to be a lack of awareness. \u201cSoccer is perhaps not as prominently featured as it should be on campus. This building will make it look more like the first class operation that it\u00a0is \u2013 it completes what has already been done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the major gifts they have made over the years, this will be the first to bear the family name \u2013 the upstairs foyer of the facility will be dubbed Rankin Hall. It will serve as an important recruiting space and reflect the history and success of both programs. \u00a0\u201cIt is not to bring acclaim to us as a family. Not too many people know about [our philanthropy] but we want them to know and hear our story so they will consider being involved, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

This facility is a story of perseverance, generosity, and patience. It may have taken an extra year to finalize the Spinks Field House, but it will now include a second floor with a covered porch overlooking the pitch, coaches\u2019 offices and locker room, and recruiting space. Hill says, \u201cThis building is twice what we set out to do and we are thrilled to add the finishing touches that will ultimately\u00a0be one of the nicest stadiums in all of college soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new complex is scheduled to be completed at the end of\u00a0October. The official dedication of Spinks Field House will be this spring.<\/p>\n

If you have not yet made a contribution to the facility and wish to add your name to the donor list, or if you would like to\u00a0buy and personalize a \u201clegacy brick\u201d for $500 (two-year pledges accepted), please call Betsy Moseley, 864.294.3491, or e-mail betsy.moseley@furman.edu<\/a>. The legacy bricks will be placed in the home side plaza beside the Spinks Field House.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was one of those down to the wire situations athletes know so well. The ready to be built soccer field house was nearing construction when a fire marshal review […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":15054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-parent-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}