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Morris gift creates new Sports Performance Center

New training facility location

New training facility will be proximate to both Alumni Arena and UB Stadium.

A new sports performance training facility offering twice the space for physical training by UB student athletes will open this fall, thanks to a $500,000 gift from UB alumnus Robert G. Morris, BA ’67, and his wife, Carol L. Morris.

The new “lab space” for athletes will allow some larger intercollegiate squads, such as the UB Bulls football team, to train as a team for the first time and enhances their ability to compete at the Mid-American Conference championship level.

The Robert G. and Carol L. Morris Sports Performance Center, which will be located adjacent to UB Stadium, will double the space for intercollegiate student athlete sports performance training, from 6,000 to 12,000 square feet. Construction of the facility began in July; it is scheduled to open before the end of October.

Morris at press conference.

Morris at press conference.

“My wife, Carol, and I are very pleased to support the efforts of the University at Buffalo Division of Athletics and the vision that [UB] President John Simpson and [Athletics Director] Warde Manuel have shared with us,” says Robert Morris.

“That vision, one that promotes the growth of both the individual student athlete on and off the field, and the positive role that athletics can play as a vital part of the university, is one that we share with great enthusiasm. As our student athletes grow in the outstanding classroom setting that UB offers, it is also critically important that their athletic ‘lab space’—that is, the time they spend conditioning and strengthening themselves—offers the same opportunity for excellence.”

Manuel notes that the facility, which will feature state-of-the-art equipment for both aerobic and strength training, will allow larger intercollegiate squads—such as the Bulls’ football, rowing, and track and field teams—to train as a team, maximizing the time demands of student athletes.

Robert Morris is a partner and director of equity investments at Lord, Abbett & Co., an independent investment management firm in Jersey City, New Jersey. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the UB College of Arts and Sciences and is a new trustee of the University at Buffalo Foundation.