North Carolina State University Athletics
Golf Clubhouse Is Part of Largest Gift
12/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Dec. 17, 2010
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Lonnie C. Poole Jr. Makes Largest Gift in NC State History
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State junior James Robinson knows the importance of management.
He's an active NC State Alumni Association Student Ambassador, a member of the Wolfpack track and field team and a busy student in accounting. While management is his ultimate career path, time management is a daily necessity.
"I have to use my time wisely," Robinson said.
So the Raleigh native and intermediate sprinter was the perfect representative to introduce NC State graduate Lonnie C. Poole Jr., when the school announced Friday morning that Poole is giving $40 million to his alma mater to rename one of the college's at the 123-year old school the Poole College of Management.
Poole, founder and CEO of Raleigh-based Waste Industries, Inc., will give $37 million to rename the 18-year-old college. He will also give $2.5 million to name the clubhouse at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on NC State's Centennial Campus in honor of his wife, Carol Johnson Poole. The couple also gave $500,000 to create an endowment within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Carol Johnson Poole's name.
Robinson was one of two students in the newly named Poole College of Management who participated in the events, along with junior economics student Chandler Thompson. They helped introduce the dignitaries, including Chancellor Randy Woodson, Dean Ira Weiss and former Dean Jon Bartley.
The announcement of what Chancellor Woodson called a "transformative event" was made in the packed auditorium at Nelson Hall.
Poole had been considering the gift - the largest in the history of the school - for nearly 15 years, he said.
"We've been thinking about this since back in the 1990s, waiting for the right time to make a difference in the university," Poole said. "It's something we have thought long and hard about. It's not a recent decision and not an impulse decision. It's something we prayed a lot about.
"We're in a position to give and I hope it makes a difference within the university."
This seemed to be the right time to finalize the details, after the great response he's had to the naming gift he made nearly three years ago for the Lonnie Poole Golf Course, which has been well received since it was dedicated on July 31, 2009, by Poole and course designer Arnold Palmer.
"The golf course turned out better than my wildest imagination," Poole said. "One of the things we got going on over there is the Jimmy V Classic. All the people that come out for that just overrun the capabilities of that temporary clubhouse that exists now.
"We need to have the permanent clubhouse."
The clubhouse will become the home of the NC State men's and women's varsity golf teams. The design for the proposed $5 million clubhouse has been submitted and fundraising efforts are ongoing, said Becky Bumgardner, NC State's executive director for development. A date has not yet been set for the official groundbreaking for the clubhouse.
• Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
