Indiana University Athletics
Basketball Development Center Gift Announcement: Tom & Judy Rush
1/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Varsity Club
Jan. 18, 2008
Donor Tom Rush has always been an IU basketball fan. He traces his loyalty to the program back to his student days in the 1960's. It was the month of March in which some of Tom's fondest Hoosier memories happened. He made the post-season pilgrimages to Philadelphia and New Orleans. He was in Atlanta when the Hoosiers beat the Oklahoma Sooners and then-Coach Kelvin Sampson, to advance to the 2002 NCAA National Championship game.
Fast forward to present day and the two gentlemen are still linked. For it was now-Hoosier Coach Kelvin Sampson's attitude that compelled Tom, and his wife, Judy, to make a $1 million gift to the "For the Glory of Old IU" Capital Campaign. Their gift will name the men's basketball practice court, which will be housed in the yet-to-be-built Basketball Development Center.
After the Knight-era, "the cupboards were bare" and he saw a "brick and mortar need," Tom explains. Just as he encourages other donors to do, Tom evaluated what he could do to support IU Athletics. Having spoken to Sampson early in his tenure at IU, Tom instantly saw a proven winner with determination. Drawn to support men's basketball and knowing that the program's facilities were in need of a dramatic facelift, Tom felt there was no better way for his gift to be used.
The accompanying picture to this article shows Tom and Sampson at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Basketball Development Center last June. On that day Tom says that IU Athletics, donors, alumni, and fans recognized that Indiana University "can't get by on tradition alone these days." The events of that summer day showed a commitment to the future, a future that Tom and Judy Rush are very excited to be a part of.
