UNT alumnus Jim McIngvale (center) was recognized at the Feb. 12 Mean Green men's basketball game for his $1 million contribution to the university to help fund a new athletic center. Rick Villarreal, athletic director, and North Texas Dancers including Natalie Cox presented McIngvale with an artist's rendering of the building.

$1 million gift to help fund construction of new UNT athletic center

Jim McIngvale, a Houston businessman and philanthropist who is a former North Texas football letterman, is giving the UNT athletic department $1 million toward construction of the new athletic center.

The gift provides significant funding for the $7.4 million facility, which is under construction on the Eagle Point Campus. The 47,000-square-foot center is part of the athletic department's "Soaring to Victory" capital campaign.

"I believe in UNT and what it does for the youth of Texas and has done for literally hundreds of thousands of students over the years," McIngvale says. "Because I have fond memories of my time as a football player there and because I am a big supporter of [UNT head football] coach Darrell Dickey today, I wanted to do something to help the athletic department. I am hoping this donation will spark other people to help finish the facility."

Owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, McIngvale has also developed extensive corporate partnerships with various professional sports franchises and organizations.

"We are tremendously appreciative of Mr. McIngvale's support, and his generous gift will help take us to the next level as we continue to build a respected Division I athletic program," says athletic director Rick Villarreal.

The new center will feature state-of-the-art weight training and sports medicine facilities as well as a multipurpose auditorium, administration and coaches' offices, and football locker rooms.

Dickey says the gift will help all UNT athletes become increasingly competitive at the highest level.

McIngvale was a two-year letterman on the North Texas football team in 1972 and 1973, playing linebacker for coaches Rod Rust and Hayden Fry. He started 10 games in 1973, helping the Mean Green tie for a Missouri Valley Conference championship with a 5-1 league record. Fry said of McIngvale in 1973 that he was "one of the most pleasant surprises, showing consistency and aggressive play with a natural ability to locate the football."

BY KELLEY REESE kreese@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

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• UNT to host annual law conference March 1-2
• Faculty and staff can vote now for 2004 UNT Homecoming theme
• UNT students, alumna win Rotary Scholarships
• Cowboy historian to speak to Friends of the UNT Libraries
• UNT professor finds that women's civic clubs led to suffrage movement in Texas
• Familiar faces should rule at 76th Academy Awards
• Totten named to National Commission on Libraries and Information Science

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