Former All-American Caron Butler Makes Gift to Basketball Center at UConn

Grace Merritt

2 min read

The UConn Foundation is excited to announce that former UConn men’s basketball All-American Caron Butler and his wife Andrea have made a gift in support of the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center.

Caron Butler earned All-American honors and was the Big East Conference Player of the Year and the Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2001-02, and led the Huskies to the NCAA Elite Eight. After that season, Butler was an NBA Draft lottery selection with the 10th pick by the Miami Heat. He is a two-time NBA All-Star, 2011 NBA Champion as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, and is in his 14th season in the NBA, currently as a member of the Sacramento Kings.

Butler returned to campus in February and was inducted as a member of the Huskies of Honor, which recognizes the great players in UConn history.

“Andrea and I met at UConn, and it has always held a special place in our hearts,” stated Butler. “Being recognized in the Huskies of Honor event brought back so many incredible memories and emotions. Coach Jim Calhoun and all the coaches—Karl Hobbs, Dave Leitao, George Blaney, and Tom Moore—have played a critical role in my life, and Andrea and I are blessed to be able to give back in this small way.”

“We are extremely grateful to Caron and Andrea for their support. We have raised more than $33.5 million in private support toward this project with another $3.5 million needed to complete it. Caron and Andrea’s commitment is meaningful as we work to complete the fundraising for the Center and hopefully provides an example that others will follow,” said Joshua Newton, UConn Foundation President and CEO.

Butler, whose gift amount remains private, hopes that his act of giving inspires others. “I want everyone who values UConn and its student-athletes to understand that every gift matters, small or large,” Butler added.

“Any time a former student-athlete makes a gift we are grateful, as it shows how much UConn still means to them,” said Rachel Rubin, Interim Director of Athletics. Butler’s Husky pride does run deep. In fact, he recently said that he is “elated that UConn has been loyal to the Husky Brotherhood” by hiring former UConn and NBA player Kevin Ollie as head coach of the men’s team.

“We truly appreciate Caron and Andrea’s commitment to the project,” Rubin continued.

The 75,000-plus square-foot Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center facility features two separate wings for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. It includes common areas for academic support, sports medicine, and strength training areas, as well as separate practice gyms, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, and video analysis theaters.

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UConn Donor Makes His Mark on UConn’s New Basketball Practice Facility

Grace Merritt

3 min read

Ted Lunney and family — UConn alum Ted Lunney with his wife, Melissa, and two daughters, Alexa and Taylor.

Ted Lunney ’92, a loyal alum and Husky basketball fan, will be one of the first donors to have a locker named after him in UConn’s new Werth Family UConn Basketball Champion Center.

Lunney says he wanted to contribute because of the strong connection he feels toward UConn, where he majored in business and formed lifelong friendships.

“This is a chance to give back to a place that had a big impact on me personally and professionally. Hopefully, this will have a positive impact on the university,” Lunney said. “I have incredibly fond memories of UConn. It’s been a great experience.”

The new 78,000-square-foot basketball practice facility features common areas for strength training, academic support, and sports medicine as well as separate practice gyms, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, and video analysis theaters. Fundraising is ongoing for the $40 million facility, the first and only building on campus funded completely by philanthropy.

“Seeing major supporters like Dan Toscano ’87 and Mark Shenkman ’65 give both their time and money over the years planted the seeds for me to make my own donation. Hopefully it will have a meaningful impact,” Lunney said. “The perfect opportunity presented itself in the locker naming at the Werth Family Champion’s Center.”

Lunney’s donation will assist UConn Athletics’ Drive to 5K initiative to raise funds for scholarships, facility expenses, and other related costs to support UConn’s 24 teams. To date, nearly 4,000 donors have contributed to support our 700 student-athletes and help keep UConn’s teams nationally competitive. UConn is competing with universities such as Kansas, which has 6,050 athletic donors, Maryland, which has 6,500, and Rutgers, which boasts 7,460.

Lunney was raised in Meriden. His parents divorced early and he was raised by his father, Bob, an elementary school teacher in North Haven. After graduating from Maloney High School, Lunney headed to UConn. A lot has changed on campus since then. He remembers watching the basketball team play in the old fieldhouse and the Hilltop residence halls had just opened and were considered the “cream of the crop” in dorm living. UConn’s transformation through the UConn 2000 construction program was just starting then.

His fondest memories are of the great friendships he formed at UConn, particularly during his junior year on his floor in Hale Hall. He remembers the day it all started when three guys down the hall were trying to watch a game on an old TV with a rabbit-ear antenna in their room. They were frustrated because they couldn’t get any reception.

They walked by Lunney’s room and noticed that he was watching the same game. They asked if he minded if they watched it with him.

“I had cable TV,” Lunney said. “That was a big deal then.”

After that, every day he came home from class he’d find them in his room watching cable.

They became and have remained good friends over the years. All three were in his wedding party and they still get together, though not as often.

“What I remember most about UConn is the great relationships we created, the lifelong relationships you establish going through university together,” he said.

Lunney married his high school sweetheart, Melissa, and they live in Westport with their two daughters, Alexa, 11, and Taylor, 8, whom he calls his “mini Huskies.” Lunney has worked on Wall Street for the past 23 years. He currently runs the high yield trading desk for the Bank of Montreal, BMO Capital Markets, in New York.

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UConn Nation Launches ‘Drive for 5K’ Initiative

Jack Kramer

3 min read

Noel Thomas and the Oleksiws — Noel Thomas flanked by Jim (left) and Marylee Oleksiw (right).

UConn’s prowess in the sporting world is well known. UConn Nation has come to expect—and receive—national championships in exchange for their loyalty and passion.

What sometimes gets lost in that effort, however, is that student-athletes are no different than “regular” students. The need for scholarship support to keep attracting these top students to UConn has never been higher.

As the cost of tuition continues to rise, private support is more essential than ever for the success of our 24 varsity sports and more than 700 student-athletes. And what also sometimes gets forgotten is that UConn student-athletes continue to excel: more than 50 percent earned a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

In the 2014-15 academic year, $12 million was paid by the Athletic Department in tuition costs, as 216 athletes received partial scholarships and 196 received full scholarships. That cost will be going up this year.

UConn’s championship success has been achieved in large part due to the continued generosity of donors, season ticket holders, alumni and friends who annually support UConn Athletics.

This year a new fundraising initiative, the “Drive for 5K,” is being launched with the goal of increasing the number of contributors from 4,400 to 5,000.

[Listen to our radio spot on the Drive for 5K, featuring UConn Athletic Director Warde Manuel]

The “Drive for 5K” comes at the same time the UConn Foundation is in the midst of its Transform Lives fundraising initiative that aims to double the amount of financial support—including merit and need-based scholarships—that the Foundation raises for the benefit of the UConn student body.

There are tangible benefits to making a donation to UConn Athletics. A gift enrolls you in The UConn Club and provides priority seating and parking privileges at games, invitations to special events, tax benefits and other exclusive benefits associated with membership.

Numbers are great—but to put a face on one of the scholarship recipients, meet Noel Thomas, a junior wide receiver from Norwalk, Conn., who caught 26 passes, gained 305 yards and caught a team-high four touchdowns during the 2014 season.

Noel, a junior majoring in communications who says it’s his dream “to be a coach someday,” is this year’s recipient of the Oleksiw Family Football Scholarship.

“My family has one less thing to worry about” thanks to the scholarship, said Noel. “I have a lot of self-motivation to keep my grades up. Plus we have a good team of academic advisors to help us out.”

Time management, said Noel, is a challenge for student-athletes, especially during the time of year when the sport the athlete is playing is in season. “Studying—and playing—is a full-time commitment,” he said. “But it’s a commitment that I am more than willing to make.”

Noel’s scholarship donors, the Oleksiws, have a long history of contribution and service to the UConn Club and the UConn Division of Athletics.

Jim ’75 (ENG) and Marylee Oleksiw said they are thrilled to help pay for Noel’s education. “He and his teammates,” said Marylee, “are such an impressive group of young men. We are so happy to be able to help him, on and off the field.”

“We just wanted to do what we could to support the (football) program,” said Jim Oleksiw.

A native of Manchester, Conn., Jim was an engineering major at UConn and served as a resident assistant in Buckley Hall. Marylee is from a small town in Massachusetts and grew up watching sports as a cheerleader at her high school. Both of their children are also UConn graduates.

The Oleksiws are faithful followers of the Huskies both at home and on the road. They have attended all four of the men’s basketball team’s appearances in the Final Four and all five of UConn’s bowl games in football. They have also attended numerous women’s Final Fours and followed the Huskies to locations such as Hawaii and the Virgin Islands.

“Supporting UConn athletics is a family activity for us,” said Marylee. “When our kids were young coming to UConn sporting events was a big part of our lives.”

“And it still is,” added Jim.

If you have questions about the “Drive for 5K” or any other fundraising question, please call the UConn Athletic Development Office at (860) 486-3863 or email at [email protected].

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Basketball Center Dedicated to Werth Family

Jennifer Doak-Mathewson

3 min read

History was made on the UConn campus today, as the UConn Foundation handed over to the University the first building financed entirely with private donations and no taxpayer money. The UConn Basketball Champions Center was dedicated in the name of Peter J. and Pamela H. Werth, who made their second gift in three years for the new practice and training home for the Huskies’ championship basketball programs.

The $40 million state-of-the-art basketball practice facility behind Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, the on-campus home of the 2014 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championship teams, will ensure that no university will surpass UConn when it comes to supporting its student-athletes.

“We believe the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center is the key to sustaining UConn’s tradition of great basketball,” says Coleman Levy ‘61, ’62, ’66, chairman of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors. “Built solely with private donations, this new facility is a real tribute to the steadfastness of our friends and alumni and their willingness to support UConn’s transformation and vision for the future. We are so grateful to the Werth family and the many generous donors who helped make this great new facility possible.”

The 75,000-plus square-foot facility features complete facilities for the men’s and women’s championship basketball programs. The building includes common academic support, sports medicine and strength training areas along with separate practice gyms, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms and video analysis facilities.

Upon entering the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center, the lobby will feature a display of NCAA trophies representing the four men’s championships and the nine women’s titles. On each side of the main lobby leading to the women’s and men’s areas, visitors will be greeted by a floor-to-ceiling image of an iconic Husky representing each program—Maya Moore and Ray Allen.

Last year men’s head coach Kevin Ollie ’95 and women’s head coach Geno Auriemma led the Huskies to dual championships, a feat accomplished just once before in NCAA history when Jim Calhoun and Auriemma led UConn to both national championships in 2004.

The Werth family is also making history; their original gift for the practice facility three years ago was one of the largest single private gifts ever made to the Division of Athletics. Now the Werths are making another investment in UConn’s quest for additional championships.

“UConn is a very special place,” says Peter Werth, a season ticket holder for both basketball teams and the football team, who says he has a special fondness for UConn women’s basketball. “The young people who go to UConn come out better than they went in, not only in terms of education but also in attitude and life skills. UConn does a great job and my family is pleased to be able to support it.”

Pamela Werth, a strong supporter of programs that marry the arts and sports to education, said she was impressed by the building’s focus on education resources for student athletes. “The sound-proof study rooms and educational support areas are a tribute to the importance of academics to our student-athletes,” she says.

Peter Werth is the founder and CEO of Chemwerth Inc., a full service generic drug development and supply company based in Connecticut. He and his wife have been active UConn Athletics donors since 2003. Their strong connection to the University began with their children—Peter III, Debbie and Jackie—all of whom attended UConn.

Warde Manuel, UConn director of athletics, says the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center will provide important support for student-athletes who join one of the nation’s best-known championship basketball programs.

“I look at this building as an important resource for our championship basketball programs and for Coaches Geno Auriemma and Kevin Ollie, who provide the leadership that allows our student athletes to excel in their sport and in their classrooms” he says.

The Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center was designed by Populous, the former HOK Sport, which designed The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center located across the street from the new facilty.

We still need your help! Support the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center today.

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