Salem couple to give $4.4M to Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN -- A gift from a Salem couple will help a proposed Bowling Green State University student athlete center move closer to reality.
J. Robert and Karen Sebo of Salem are giving the university $4.4 million over five years to fund several initiatives, including the Sebo Student Athlete Center. The Sebos' gift, the second largest in university history, also will expand the Sebo Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, support a WBGU-PBS documentary about successful regional entrepreneurs and enhance the College of Musical Arts with an expanded jazz studies scholarship and funding for a spring concert.
Sebo graduated from Bowling Green in 1958 with a degree in business administration and is a member of the university's board of trustees. He was involved in many successful business ventures including co-founding Paychex Inc., a top national provider of payroll, human resource, and benefits outsourcing solutions for businesses in the U.S. He spent 20 years with the company, retiring as senior vice president and partner in 1994.
The majority of the gift -- $3.5 million -- will fund the construction of the Sebo Student Athlete Center.
The privately funded center, which will be located at the north end zone of the Doyt E. Perry Stadium, will become the stadium's new front entrance. At about 33,500 square feet, the two-story building will feature an expanded and state-of-the-art sports medicine and rehabilitation facility and a strength and conditioning area for all university student athletes.
The center also will hold offices for football coaches, a video equipment and viewing room, team meeting rooms and conference rooms. A heritage room and an outdoor pavilion overlooking the playing field also are planned. Total estimated cost of the center will be $7 million.