Seven years ago, a baseball stadium at Penn State was a dream.
When the Penn State Athletic Department heard that alumnus Anthony Lubrano was thinking about making a donation, it became a drawing on paper.
On Monday, a $2.5 million step was taken toward making it a real structure of stone and brick.
Lubrano made the donation, the second largest ever given by an individual for a Penn State athletic facility, and half of the $5 million a new stadium is expected to cost. A member of Penn State's class of 1982, Lubrano is the President of A.P. Lubrano & Co., Inc., a financial services company in Lionville, Pa. Lubrano was a walk-on catcher at Penn State in his sophomore and junior seasons, playing for coach Chuck Medlar.
Lubrano got the idea to help rebuild the facility when looking out at Beaver Field from the Beaver Stadium press box during a football game in 1995. By the end of his conversation that day with Athletic Director Tim Curley and then-director of development Ken Cutler, plans for a new stadium began.
"I've had the benefit of traveling the country, and I've seen that the current facility pales in comparison to those of some of the other major programs," Lubrano said. "Simply put, we're lacking. We put so much money into the athletic department, why don't we put that much in for baseball?
"The baseball program here is tremendous, and it produces a lot of great players, but I think for it to be able to move up to that top echelon of programs and to attract players, it's time to upgrade this facility. I thought this was my opportunity to give something back to the Penn State baseball program that I had so much enjoyed being a part of."
The athletic department asked the Boalsburg architectural firm Hoffman & Popovich for an estimate on what they wanted for a stadium. The new facility, which would have lights, a seating capacity between 2,000 and 3,000 people, locker rooms and concession stands, along with other amenities, was expected to cost $5 million.
Lubrano's donation will serve as the "anchor donation" that gets the fundraising machine running. Pete Lisk, the Athletic Department's Director of Major Gifts, will be in charge of trying to acquire further donations.
"It's exciting to be involved in something like this," said Lisk, a former Penn State quarterback and baseball player. "I think putting in a first-class ballpark will certainly be exciting for the players, and show that Penn State is committed to being a top baseball program."
Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang expects the new stadium, which would be built on the spot where Beaver Field currently stands, to be a huge boost for the program.
"When we recruit, we know there are six factors involved in a player's decision," Hindelang said. "One obviously, is the athletic department, and a big part of that is what the facility is like. I think having the permanency and ownership of a new ballpark will draw a lot of players to the program. Also, I think lights will help the players a lot, because they won't have to miss as much class as they do for afternoon games."
A new facility would give Penn State a chance to host NCAA Regional and Super Regional games, as well as the PIAA playoffs. Should the Lions win the Big Ten regular season title and host the playoffs, it would be much easier than when they hosted them in 1996, when the university had to bring grandstands from other fields in to increase Beaver Field's capacity.
With the Big Ten Tournament now including six teams, a lighted stadium would also be necessary to avoid early morning games.
Though most, if not all, of the players on the current team will have graduated before the stadium is built, they are excited about the announcement.
"Our facility for Big Ten play probably isn't what it should be," outfielder Zack Smithlin said. "The playing surface is probably the best in the Big Ten, but when you go to a place like Ohio State where they have 5,000 people, it just gets the adrenaline pumping a little more."
