News and Events - Former Black Bear Football Player Rod Sparrow
'71 Supports Wes Jordan Athletic Training Education Complex
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Rod Sparrow '71 |
Playing football for the
University of Maine, Rod Sparrow ’71 loved the sport but
received his share of sprains, strains and bruises. Now, he has
given a generous gift that supports both the athletic program
and a state-of-the-art facility that helps students learn how to
treat sports injuries.
Sparrow
and his wife Deborah ‘72, residents of Bolton, Mass., have
contributed $40,000 to the UMaine football program and $90,000
to the new athletic training education facility dedicated to the
memory of Wes Jordan, the legendary trainer who treated
thousands of UMaine athletes. Considered one of the top trainers
in the country, Jordan died in 2002 after more than three
decades at UMaine.
The Harold Alfond Foundation
will match Sparrow’s gift dollar for dollar, so his contribution
effectively has generated $80,000 for the UMaine football
program, providing invaluable support for the Black Bears. His
gift, combined with others, is supporting facility upgrades,
technology, recruiting, scholarships and equipment.
Knowing that his contribution
would be enhanced through the Alfond Foundation was great
motivation, he says.
“It was a tremendous
incentive. I couldn’t pass it up. Football was a big part of my
life at UMaine.”
Meanwhile, Sparrow’s gift to the Wes Jordan Athletic Training
Education Complex in Lengyel Gym has enhanced the quality of
UMaine’s new, curriculum-based athletic training education
program which earned national accreditation in 2005 and has
become one of the most prestigious such programs on the east
coast. It was Jordan’s dream to establish an accredited athletic
training program and he had been working with UMaine on that
endeavor.
For
Sparrow, it seemed only right to contribute to the facility
named after Wes Jordan who had been a friend and mentor to so
many student athletes. “He could really relate to the kids. You
always had a good feeling when you saw him – you knew he was
going to take good care of you. Once, during football practice
when I had heat prostration, he was a tremendous help. He did
all the right things to bring my body temperature back to
normal. I really have to tip my hat to the professional way he
handled my condition.”
Sparrow
solicited other alumni for contributions to the facility, which
officially opened in 2007, and says that although Jordan never
got to see the project completed, his family was “very proud of
the University” for creating the complex.
For his
part, Sparrow is pleased that his gift has given a boost to
Campaign Maine, the University’s six-year, $150 million
comprehensive capital campaign. “I hope I can set an example for
others to think about also donating.”
His
contribution also has bolstered the athletic training program
which has become tremendously popular, according to O.J. Logue,
associate dean for academic services in the College of Education
and Human Development, where the curriculum is offered.
“Rod’s
gift is not only significant monetarily, but is one of the most
endearing gifts in terms of paying tribute to a man who not only
profoundly impacted his life, but so many others for years to
come.”
Athletics
aren’t the only reason Sparrow feels passionately about giving
to his alma mater. A business major, he says the education he
received at UMaine went a long way in giving him the knowledge
and expertise to run Leaktite Corporation, his family’s
successful fourth generation business in Leominster, Mass. With
70 employees, Leaktite produces utility pails and paint trays
and liners that are used in a wide variety of industrial,
commercial and consumer-product applications.
Thanks to
UMaine’s “nuts and bolts type classes” and tough but caring
professors, he says he came away with “the basics of running a
company so that I could develop Leaktite Corporation to where it
is today.”
A former
member of Sigma Chi, Sparrow says his classmates made him and
other students from out of state feel right at home. “The kids
we knew from Maine were great. My first roommate was from
Bethel. He’d go home weekends to work at the local Western Auto
Hardware Store and come back every Sunday night with two apple
pies that his mother would bake for us.”
Sparrow,
who keeps in touch with a number of friends from UMaine, says
his alma mater comes up often even with business acquaintances
to whom he happily proclaims his Black Bear status.
“It’s
been 35 years since I’ve graduated, but I’m proud that UMaine’s
reputation has been maintained and I’m proud to be an alumnus.”
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