The first ceremonial shovels of dirt were dug Saturday afternoon for Monmouth College's $21 million recreation complex.

Called the Huff Athletic Center in honor of Walter Huff Jr., and his late wife, Elizabeth, the new facility will be built into the college's existing gymnasium facilities and will include a new natatorium and a new fieldhouse with an indoor track. Work on the 155,000-square-foot project has already begun and is expected to take a little more than a year.

A $10 million gift from Huff, announced last August, made the project possible, and Huff was on hand to receive the thanks of the Monmouth College community and also to deliver some remarks.

"This building was the dream of President (Bruce) Haywood, and it's rising out of the ground thanks to the hard work of President (Richard) Giese and his staff," said Huff, who graduated from Monmouth in 1956. "I'm looking forward to the fall of 2003 when we're able to open the facility."

Also speaking at the ceremony were David Bowers, chairman of college's board of trustees; Terry Glasgow, Monmouth's athletic director; MC student-athlete Molly McNamara; and President Giese.

"The Huff Center will have a tremendous impact on all of our students - whether they're a varsity athlete or not - as I'm confident that the vast majority of our campus community will find ways to continue their healthy lifestyles in this outstanding recreational complex, which will provide first-class amenities for fitness, recreation, physical education, intramural activities and intercollegiate competition," said Giese. "I can say with confidence that the Huff Center will be among the best small-college recreation facilities in the country."

As a student-athlete at Monmouth, I can report firsthand that facilities do make a tremendous difference in terms of performance and enthusiasm," said McNamara, a senior from Alexis. "I'm a golfer, and I've been fortunate in both high school and college to train at Monmouth's Gibson Woods, which is known throughout the state as one of Illinois' most outstanding public courses. This is a very exciting time to be a student-athlete at Monmouth, as many of the facilities have received or are receiving upgrades, including the outdoor track, the baseball and soccer fields, and now the Huff Athletic Center."
In his remarks, Glasgow, who has coached Monmouth's men's basketball team for the past 30 years, echoed that theme.

"That building over my shoulder (Bowers Hall) is not an optical illusion," he said at the outdoor ceremony. "I've been in the business for over 30 years, and it's one of the nicest facilities of its type that I've ever seen. We are on the verge of making history today with the Huff Athletic Center, too. We're going to have one of the finest athletic facilities in the United State of America. Mr. Huff, I'm forever indebted to you for making this afternoon one of the proudest moments of my life."

Huff is the retired chairman of HBO & Co., an information systems company for the health care industry he co-founded in 1974. In 1983, Huff and his wife presented Monmouth College with a $5 million gift, then the largest gift in its history and at the time one of the largest gifts ever to an Illinois college.