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Next Phase of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium Renovation Begins

Fueled by more than 2,600 donors, work begins Feb. 24 on an extensive renovation of the lower level of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium in the next $3 million phase of Central College’s Forever Dutch^® initiative.

The lower-level renovation includes construction of a spacious women’s varsity locker room with a team meeting room, a transformed athletics training room that will provide more treatment space and an expanded athletics equipment room. Work is expected to be completed Aug. 3, prior to the arrival of fall sports teams. The area will be closed from May 25 to Aug. 3 and the college’s racquetball courts will close later this month. Other parts of the building may be inaccessible at times during the renovation.

The renovation was timed to launch after the completion of the men’s and women’s basketball seasons to minimize disruption, athletics director Eric Van Kley said.

“We’ve got a pretty tight window,” he said.

More than $15 million has been raised for the ongoing Forever Dutch initiative, which includes the 2017 $12 million building expansion. The expansion features a prominent new building entrance with the M. Joan Kuyper Farver Atrium and expanded Pacha Family Lobby, state-of-the-art locker room, wrestling center, Chip Griffith Student Lounge, Don and Diana Vogel Athletics Hall of Honor, Dave and Ardie Sutphen golf/baseball/softball hitting center and major infrastructure improvements.

Fundraising is continuing for the next $3 million phase, a renovation of the 51-year-old building’s upper level. That will feature team meeting space, a new welcome center, recruitment space, offices and visitor locker room.

The latest $3 million funding goal was reached August 2019. With a final $220,000 needed, a 48-hour challenge was staged and college supporters blew past that figure, generating $295,588.

Van Kley is hopeful that the next $3 million goal can be quickly reached as well.

“We’d like to keep the construction crews here and quickly roll into the upstairs work soon after the lower-level renovation is completed,” he said.

Student facility needs are a priority at Central as the highly successful athletics program continues to grow. Central has nearly 600 student-athletes competing in 19 intercollegiate men’s and women’s varsity sports. A 20th sport, women’s triathlon, will be added next fall. The Dutch have captured 11 NCAA Division III team championships.

“We’re thrilled about what this renovation means for our student-athletes, particularly for our women’s teams, who have established such a great tradition at Central,” Van Kley said. “The men and women have been sharing space and we’re really looking forward to giving our female student-athletes a home they can call their own.”

Kuyper Gymnasium Renovation Work to Begin in March

Work will begin in early March on the lower-level renovation of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium following an overwhelming response to the Central College Forever Dutch^® 48-Hour Challenge.

Prior to the fundraising challenge, $220,000 was needed to reach the $3-million goal for the latest phase of the Forever Dutch initiative and college supporters blew past that figure, as $295,588 was raised. Excess funds will go toward the next phase, the $3-million upper-level building renovation.

“What a tremendous response,” athletics director Eric Van Kley said. “We’re extremely grateful for the support of so many of Central alumni and friends. They truly embody what it means to be Forever Dutch. And we’re even more excited about what this means for our student-athletes.”

The lower-level renovation includes construction of a spacious women’s varsity locker room that includes a team meeting room, a reconfigured athletic training room that will provide more treatment space and an expanded athletics equipment room. Work is expected to be completed prior to the arrival of fall sports teams on campus in mid-August next year. Parts of the building will be inaccessible during the renovation. By waiting until the completion of the winter indoor sports season, Van Kley is hoping that disruptions can be minimized.

“We’ve got a pretty tight window,” he said.

Student facility needs are a priority at Central as the highly successful athletics program continues to grow. Central has nearly 600 student-athletes competing in 19 intercollegiate men’s and women’s varsity sports. A 20th sport, women’s triathlon, will be added in 2020-21.

“We’re thrilled about what this renovation means for our student-athletes, particularly for our women’s teams, who have established such a great tradition at Central,” he said. “The men and women have been sharing space and we’re really looking forward to giving our female student-athletes a home they can call their own.”

Central was an early leader in offering intercollegiate athletics opportunities for women. President Emeritus Dr. Kenneth J. Weller is a former NCAA vice president and played a key role in the NCAA offering women’s championships. Ten of the 11 NCAA national team championships won by the Dutch are in women’s sports.

The college received 330 gifts to the challenge and more than 50 percent (166) were from donors who had not previously given to the Forever Dutch initiative. The initiative has generated more than $13.5 million overall from 1,323 supporters, funding the building expansion, which opened in 2017. It included a new building entrance with the M. Joan Kuyper Farver Atrium and expanded Pacha Family Lobby, varsity locker room, wrestling room, Chip Griffith student-athlete lounge/study center, Athletics Hall of Honor, Dave and Ardie Sutphen golf/baseball/softball hitting center and major infrastructure improvements.

Fund-raising is ongoing for the building’s upper-level renovation which will feature team meeting space, a new welcome center, recruitment space, offices and visitor locker room.

“We’re hoping we can quickly roll into the upstairs work soon after the lower-level renovation is completed,” Van Kley said.

Central’s Forever Dutch 48-Hour Challenge Surpasses Goal

Central College’s Forever Dutch^® 48-Hour Challenge was a huge success, surpassing the $220,000 funding goal needed to complete renovations of the lower level of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.

During the 48-hour challenge, $291,588 was raised through donations from 328 alumni and friends of Central. Renovations will begin in the spring as locker room and athletic training room updates are targeted to be finished by Fall 2020.

“I love the competitive and generous spirit of our donors,” says Sunny Gonzales Eighmy, vice president for advancement and a 1999 alumna. “What a wonderful welcome-back-to-school present for our students thanks to the gifts from faculty, staff, alumni, parents and many other friends of the college. Members of the Central family are truly Forever Dutch.”

The Forever Dutch initiative, however, is not complete. Central still needs $3 million to complete funding for the upper-level renovations of P.H. Kuyper Gym. This includes recruiting suites, conference and film rooms, coaches’ offices and a welcome center.

$300,000 Gift to Central, Forever Dutch Honors Marjorie Gruis, Aunt of Ardie Sutphen

Central College received a gift of $300,000 from Dave ’61 and Ardie Pals Sutphen ’64 toward the Forever Dutch® initiative, which funds updates for athletics facilities.

The gift was made in honor of Marjorie Gruis, and the plaza in front of the P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium is named in her memory. Ardie is Gruis’ niece.

“Central College was a special place to her,” Ardie says. “It’s another way for her to be recognized at Central for her love of the college.”

Gruis was a generous friend to Central throughout her life, including gifts to establish an endowed scholarship and toward the Journey Scholarship Fund. She died in January 2018.

A plaque recently was placed near the plaza. It reads: “Marjorie Gruis ’49 earned her teaching certificate at Central College, later teaching elementary students at a country school. With a generous gift from Dave ’61 and Ardie Pals Sutphen ’64, niece of Marjorie, this plaza is named in her memory and in honor of her love for students.”

There will be a dedication of the plaza during Central’s first home football game this season, Sept. 7 against Northwestern-St. Paul.

Dave joined Central’s staff in 2000 and retired as vice president of advancement in 2013. He continues in retirement as major gifts advisor. Ardie worked at the college from 1979-2012, primarily as executive assistant to the president.

The Sutphens have been big supporters of Central athletics and Forever Dutch®. They have given more than $400,000 to the cause and been the face behind the initiative.

Central will hold a Forever Dutch® 48-Hour Fundraising Challenge next week starting at noon Aug. 20 and running through noon Aug. 22. It’s a push to raise $220,000 needed to fund renovation construction on the lower level of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium, following the $13 million expansion to the athletics facilities two years ago. This effort will fund renovations to another varsity locker room, the athletics training room area and equipment room.

“It is about facilities, but the most important thing is the people and the difference Central makes in these students’ lives,” Dave says. “I get to see it firsthand. I’ve been involved with Central since I came as a student in 1957. Ardie and I just believe in this place, and we believe in our students and coaches. They are absolutely fantastic and we need to support them.”

The Start of Every Memory

Huma Liptak ’18

If you asked most people to describe a locker room, they would probably give you a straightforward answer about a place to change clothes and shower. They might say something about getting ready or storing their stuff. But if you ask any of the Central College women’s soccer players or any other student-athlete at Central, they’re going to tell you something very different.

For us, our locker room is a place where we might share our dreams, might pray for a victory and it’s the place we might cry after a hard loss. For the Central women’s soccer team and for me, the locker room was a place where we sang “Man in the Mirror” and the place where we bonded over wins and losses and all things in between. It’s a place where I put on my cleats and it’s the place where I made friends over a teammate braiding my hair. It’s the place I laughed over presents from my teammates and the place we cried when our teammate got hurt. The locker room might just be an unimportant room in a building to most people, but to the student-athletes of Central, the locker room is the start of every memory.

From the day of my recruitment to my final game, the locker room was a place I processed so much of my Central experience. It’s the place where I reflected the lessons learned on the pitch, but more important in the way those lessons applied to the rest of my life. A gift of a locker room is not about a place to change clothes and store cleats, it is a gift for the memories future generations of Central student-athletes will create together in a space that is theirs.

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Huma Liptak, a 2018 Central graduate, is a former women’s soccer player for the Dutch. Originally from Fairfield, Iowa, Liptak majored in exercise science. She now lives in Des Moines and is in her first year of medical school at Des Moines University.