For William and Lee Beard, showing their Nittany Lion pride came in the form of a $500,000 pledge to the construction of a new softball facility.
Construction on Beard Field is scheduled to start during the spring semester, and the field should be ready to host games by the start of the 2011 season, Penn State Athletic Communications Assistant Jeremy Fallis said.
"It's a significant step in just getting it off the ground," Fallis said.
Plans for the construction of the facility have been in the works for a while, though this is the first instance where a real timeline has been laid out.
The new complex will be much different from the current Nittany Lion Field, offering a permanent place exclusively for softball that will include permanent seating, training rooms and coaches' offices. The new facility will be built in the same location as Nittany Lion Field.
Lee Beard said Penn State is the last school in the Big Ten to get a permanent softball facility. Beard Field will put the softball team on par with some of the top facilities in the country, Fallis said.
"It will be one of the best, if not the best," Fallis said.
Associate Athletic Director Greg Myford said the intent of the new facility is to "raise our game" on many levels, despite what he called a woefully inadequate facility. Despite the current field conditions, he says the softball team still managed to be competitive in what he called one of the best leagues in all of softball.
"We're always looking to do what we can to give our student athletes the best they can have," he said. Indeed, he thinks Beard Field could be a factor in helping the team go into the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships as a softball powerhouse.
Myford said the $500,000 gift was one of the largest gifts to be devoted solely to the construction of an athletic facility.
"It's a very generous gift from a couple that has been supportive of our softball program for a long time," Myford said.
William Beard was the softball coach at Penn State Hazleton for seven years, his wife and 1999 honorary Penn State alumna Lee Beard said. She is also the volunteer vice chairwoman of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students.
Beard said she and her husband have come to know and appreciate the women's softball program throughout the campus and university. She's hoping the new facility will help Penn State's recruiting.
"We will be really thrilled to watch the women play in that beginning season and many more," Beard said.
Some members of the team said they can't wait to play in Beard Field. Catcher Danee Collett said she thinks there will be a whole new sense of pride in the new atmosphere her team deserves.
"I'm really excited," Collett (sophomore-elementary education) said. "Every game, we'll be pumped and ready to go."
