Groundbreaking will happen at Priest Field this morning for a new athletic stadium at Westminster College.
The event will begin at 10 a.m. on the field, at the corner of Hickman Avenue and Seventh Street in Fulton. All are invited and refreshments will be served.
Kent C. and Judy Mueller, of Paradise Valley, Arizona, announced on March 13 their $3 million gift to build the new facility. Kent Mueller is a 1962 graduate and made the announcement to the student body via Skype at the college's historic gymnasium. He said he and his wife met at a concert at Westminster.
"This will be the largest capital improvement project on campus in over a decade," he said.
The Muellers also raised and donated funds for the Mueller Leadership Hall on the Westminster campus, opened in 2007.
The stadium will be used for football, soccer, lacrosse, and baseball and softball practice when needed. Phase one will be completed by this fall, and will include artificial turf, a new scoreboard and lights. Phase two will include bleachers, a press box, concessions and restrooms. No time frame for phase two completion was given.
Today's speakers include Westminster President Fletch Lamkin, Westminster Board of Trustee member Jane Bell, Westminster Athletic Director Matt Mitchell, Fulton Mayor LeRoy Benton and S.M. Wilson Construction Company CEO Scott Wilson. Mueller will not be able to attend.
Mueller is president and CEO of Kent Mueller Ventures and in August 1986, founded Mastersoft, a computer software developer. He was named Inc. magazine's Arizona High Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 1994.
In 2013, he was the first person to receive the Trustee Distinguished Service Award from the college's board of trustees. At that time, he was Westminster's single largest individual donor.
"Westminster gave me the knowledge, tools and drive to enthusiastically pursue everything I needed to be successful in both my personal life and in my professional life," he said.