Five More Major Gifts for Varsity Village

5/8/2003

  • Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village

    CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The University of Cincinnati has received five more major gifts totaling $5.5 million for the construction of the Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village.

    Contributing financial support to the athletic facilities enhancement project are:

  • John Hermanies, long-time supporter of the UC sports program and former member of the university's board of trustees, who donated $1.5 million.
  • Sisters Priscilla Garrison Haffner, Martha Garrison Anness and Sally Garrison Skidmore, who each gave $1 million to honor their late father and avid UC booster Stuart R. Garrison.
  • The late Helen Smith, $1 million from a trust which she and husband George Smith, former UC coach and athletics director, established.

    "We are extremely appreciative of the generosity expressed by these individuals," stated UC director of athletics Bob Goin. "Their benovelence brings us closer to our goal for private support of this project, and brings us much closer to realizing the dreams and ambitions we have for our athletics program."

    Hermanies' gift has already been memorialized by the naming of the press box at Nippert Stadium the John and Dorothy Hermanies Press Box in 2000. That is an appropriate tribute to the man who has missed only two home football games in the past five decades.

    Hermanies (UC Law '48, Honorary '92) has been a benefactor to UC's History Department as well as a special donor to athletics.

    "Varsity Village is another outstanding project for a university that is renowned for its fine academics," stated Hermanies. "The new athletic facilities will support UC's excellence."

    Because of the generosity of the Garrison sisters, the football offices in the new Richard E. Lindner Center will be named the Stuart R. Garrison Football Suite. Mr. Garrison (UC Engineering '22), executive vice president of Union Central Life, was a long-time follower of Bearcat football until his death in 1985. Priscilla (UC Education '51) and Sally (UC Education

    '57) are Cincinnati grads while Martha is a 1948 graduate of Sweetbriar.

    "Our father was determined to improve UC football and to this end he established the first full tuition scholarship in 1975, which has been maintained to this day as the Stuart R. Garrison Memorial Scholarship," said the sisters through a joint statement. "Football and athletics at UC have come a long way since 1922, when our father graduated UC, chiefly because of the dedication and support of many people like Stu Garrison."

    The museum in the new Lindner Center will be named in honor of George and Helen Smith. George (UC Education '35, UC master's in Education '51), standout athlete at UC in the early 1930s, served as head basketball coach of the Bearcats in the 1950s, during which he recruited and coached Oscar Robertson, and was athletics director for another 16 years. For much of this time, wife Helen was a mother figure to countless UC student-athletes. George died in 1996 and Helen died in 2002.