Salem resident donates $3.5M for athletic site

The dedication of the Sebo Athletic Center was
scheduled for today.

BOWLING GREEN — Student-athletes at Bowling Green State University have a new campus home for training and treatment, thanks largely to the generosity of a Salem man.

The 42,500-square-foot center is named for retired businessman Robert Sebo, the 1958 BGSU graduate and current trustee who gave the lead gift of $3.5 million for its construction.

The Sebo Athletic Center was to be dedicated today before the Falcons first home football game of the season, a noon kickoff with Temple.

“It’s a terrific addition to the Bowling Green campus, and its impact on our student-athletes is going to be tremendous,” said Greg Christopher, athletic director. “This is a building that will help all 425 student-athletes and 18 teams.”

James Elsasser, assistant athletic director for internal affairs, called it “the cornerstone of athletic buildings” on campus.

A committee has helped to raise more than $7.4 million in private money for the project.

“We had people chip in and accomplish something that was desperately needed,” said Sebo, expressing his gratitude at seeing the building progress from conversations and a dream to reality.

How it’s going

Ground was broken for the building in December 2005. It has been a featured project of “Building Dreams: The Centennial Campaign for Bowling Green State University,” which has now raised more than $117.6 million toward a December 2008 goal of $120 million.

The campaign’s focus is to increase scholarships, enhance faculty and leadership positions, strengthen programs, build for tomorrow and sustain the BGSU.

The athletic center has strength and conditioning room, sports medicine facilities and men’s and women’s locker rooms on the first floor

The second floor houses conference rooms and athletic department administrative offices, while football coaches’ offices and the Wilcox Boardroom are on the top floor. The boardroom and the balcony outside it overlook the stadium’s new FieldTurf playing surface.

Sebo, who lives in Salem, also has made contributions to his alma mater for football and jazz studies scholarships and for a lecture series in entrepreneurship in the school’s College of Business Administration.

He is a retired senior vice president at Paychex Inc., the Rochester, N.Y.-based payroll and human resource company.