Southwestern will reinstate football and add women’s
lacrosse to its roster of NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports,
thanks to $6 million in gifts from two former student-athletes.
Joe Seeber, a 1963 graduate who played basketball while he was at
Southwestern, has pledged $5 million to launch the new programs and
San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, who also attended Southwestern
and played football, has pledged $1 million. Joanne and Brent
Austin of Houston also have made a gift to support the new
programs.
The new program, which will take the field in 2013, gives the
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference three football programs
after the league's upcoming split. While that's not enough to help
the conference attract more members to receive an automatic bid, it
would make an alliance between the SCAC and the University Athletic
Association viable. Such an alliance could garner the group an
automatic bid by 2015.
It would bring the number of Division III football programs in
2013 to 245, the highest it's ever been. Berry announced last week it was adding the sport in
2013 as well, and Iowa Wesleyan has announced it is moving to
Division III from the NAIA. That would offset the loss of
McMurry to Division II next fall.
“As the oldest university in Texas, we realize the
importance many people place on football,” said president
Jake B. Schrum. “There are many bright young men who want to
play football in college who find NCAA Division III appealing. It
is important for us to be back in the game. Additionally,
Southwestern was on the forefront when we added men’s
lacrosse as a varsity sport. It naturally follows that
women’s lacrosse would also become a varsity sport at
Southwestern. Both Mr. Seeber and Dr. McCombs were varsity athletes
at Southwestern and their generosity is representative of the
culmination of their love of amateur athletics and their commitment
to Southwestern. We are deeply grateful to them and to all who have
joined this effort.”
Adding football and women’s lacrosse (which will take the
field in the spring of 2014) will bring Southwestern’s
complement of athletic teams to 20.
Birmingham-Southern University added football in 2008 and now has
more than 100 players on its roster. Texas Lutheran University
reinstated football in 1998 and had 153 students report for
practice this fall. Hendrix College has announced plans to bring
back football in 2013.
Southwestern previously played intercollegiate football from 1908
to 1951 and was a charter member of the Southwest Conference. The
Southwestern football team gained national attention during
World War II when Southwestern was home to a Navy V-12 program.
With the help of players from schools such as UT, Baylor, SMU and
TCU, Southwestern went 9-1 during the 1943-44 season and defeated
the University of New Mexico in the Sun Bowl in January 1944. The
Pirates won the Sun Bowl for a second consecutive year the
following season.
Southwestern will join the University of Dallas as the only two
universities in Texas to offer varsity lacrosse for women. In 2010,
it became the first university in Texas to offer varsity lacrosse
for men. Southwestern added varsity softball for women in
2008-2009.
Southwestern plans to use land it owns on the east side of its
campus to build facilities to support the new programs, including
two new practice fields, a 15,000 square-foot field house, and a
new track to support the university’s track and cross-country
programs. The university also plans to upgrade the existing locker
rooms in the Corbin J. Robertson Center for field sports.
Southwestern plans to play its home football games at the new
Georgetown stadium complex.
Munt said economics is one reason so many small universities have
added football recently. “Once fully functioning,
Southwestern football not only should be able to sustain itself
financially, it should generate a surplus that could be used for
other university priorities,” she said.
Munt noted that the GPAs of student-athletes at Southwestern are
comparable to the rest of the student population and graduation
rates are consistently 7 percent higher than other students.
The gifts to support the new athletics programs will be counted
toward Southwestern’s Thinking Ahead campaign, which seeks to
raise $150 million and now stands at $123 million in gifts and
pledges. McCombs has previously given $1 million to the campaign to
support Southwestern’s academic program.
Seeber said the motivation for his gift came from the two years he
spent as president of The Association of Southwestern University
Alumni, during which time he traveled across the country talking to
alumni about their experiences at Southwestern.
“There are many places you can get an education, but not
many places transform lives the way Southwestern does,”
Seeber said. “This isn’t about football - it’s
about transforming lives.”
Southwestern adding football
Oct 28, 2011