GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It took next to no time for the wow factor engendered by the Heavener Football Training Center to give way to an appreciation factor. A sincere and passionate appreciation factor, to say the least.
There was nothing forced, patterned or planned about the shower of gratitude directed toward the generous UF donors from Gator Boosters, Inc. — more than 250 of them— who made possible
the new $85 million football palace that opened its doors to the team Sunday, and next week will welcome all Gator student-athletes with the start of the 2022-23 academic calendar. The facility's grand opening not only matched the hype, but by the looks on the faces of those who walked through it well exceeded even the sky-high expectations of a game-changer on the recruiting front.
On a lot of fronts, it would appear.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Chief Borders, like the rest of his UF football teammates, was in joyous awe Sunday after entering the Heavener Football Training Center for the first time.
"Breath-taking," fifth-year senior defensive back
Trey Dean III said. "State-of-the-art."
Tiger Jones, the team's director of speed improvement and skill development, declared it the "new standard." His words.
"Anything
after this will be
based on this," Jones said.
Built on the site that once was home to McKethan Stadium and the UF baseball complex, the Heavener adjoins the team's indoor and outdoor practice fields, thus creating a long-awaited one-stop shopping effect that will have a striking impact on players' time and daily routine.
The rest of it, to Jones's point, now looms as a standard by which all such future endeavors — anywhere — will be measured.
"While visiting campus over the years and being close to our football program, the one word that stuck in my head when looking at how the football team got from their locker and meeting rooms to the practice fields or to the dining hall was 'inefficient,' Heavener said. "Being a student-athlete at the University of Florida requires a great deal of well-planned time management and once I understood the vision for the new facility, I knew this was the answer to what the program needed most. I'm thrilled to be a part of this amazing project."
Added Condron: "This was such a unique project. It wasn't a renovation or a brand new building on undeveloped land, it required a serious strategy. The University Athletic Association put together a financial plan and timeline to move baseball out to the southwestern part of campus, which then opened up the perfect place for a structure that would bring everything together. The indoor practice facility, outdoor grass fields and the new training center being co-joined has given the program and our team much needed efficiency. The final product is incredible and my family and I are ecstatic to be involved to help make it happen."
Indeed, every player, coach and support staff member that entered the building — functional, but still a few weeks from a finished product — was left wide-eyed, drop-jawed and gushing with gratefulness over the spacious 142,000 square feet of locker room and meeting areas, a massive football-dedicated weight room and brand new equipment, expansive office space, and enhanced sports medicine and rehabilitation amenities. The front of the complex is home to a prominent, two-story atrium that opens into a dining hall and indoor lounge areas that include a hair salon, virtual-reality room and adjacent resort-style outdoor swimming pool and recreation site, all of which will be available to student-athletes from all 21 sports.
In the hours (and days) after the team's first look, accolades and thank-yous flooded social media. More most certainly are on the way.
"We can't express our gratitude loudly enough," UF coach
Billy Napier said. "Just so thankful to all those who invested and contributed here."
The list is a lengthy one, led by the generosity of its namesake, Heavener,
whose major gift in 2019 helped lay the base for the project, as well as Condron,
the largest single financial donor in University Athletic Association history and whose name is on the indoor practice facility. In addition, there were three more single gifts of $5 million, four of at least $2.5 million, another 10 of $1 million, plus 15 individual gifts from former football players who will have named lockers and others spaces at the facility.
"Mr. Heavener's name is on the building, but there were a lot of people involved here at a high level," UF athletic director
Scott Stricklin said. "There are some names who have a history of supporting these facility projects, yes, but we have quite a few others where this may have been their first time at this level, as well."
Hugh Hathcock, Bryan Kornblau, David and Shannon Bueno, Lee Fixel, Judy Hathcock, Chris LaFace, Jon and Kelly Pritchett and Rodney Rogers, to name a few, are among the familiar names who stepped up.
But all told, 258 different donors (their names below) accounted for gifts of at least $10,000 to help make the ambitious project — arguably the most important ever undertaken by the UAA — come to fruition.
"These kinds of projects that have really long and lasting impact don't happen unless people who really care about the Gators step up and decide they want to make a difference," Stricklin said. "It's a team effort, with everyone understanding that every gift matters when you take on something like this."
To the donors who made it possible, "Thank you!"
