Gift to fund new athletics facility at Notre Dame
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A group of former University of Notre Dame football players is providing a financial gift to support a new athletics facility for the university.
Notre Dame announced plans for the Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall on Saturday, though a specific dollar amount for the gift was not disclosed.
The group is led by former linebacker Jack Shields and his wife, Kathy. Other contributors include former safety Pat Eilers and his wife, Jana, as well as linebacker Dave Butler and his wife, Clare, defensive lineman Pat Kramer and cornerback Tom Carter.
Additional donors wished to remain anonymous.
Notre Dame said the 150,000-square-foot facility will foster team building and personal growth, improve physical conditioning and technical ability, and allow Notre Dame Research to partner with the athletics department to study human performance, sports science, medicine and nutrition.
The facility will include an advanced training room; stand-alone sports medicine facility; equipment facility with body scanning and fabrication technology; a new and expanded locker room; meeting rooms, including a two-level, all-team auditorium and an augmented reality walkthrough room; media innovation spaces, including recording studios and photo studios; academic support spaces; and a new player nutrition area designed to foster community between teams and model healthy eating.
“The Shields family’s remarkable gift, together with the support of many others, will enable us to greatly enhance our ability to support student-athletes physically, mentally, socially and academically,” Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, said in a news release. “This new facility will help us to excel on the field while we advance the study of sports science, nutrition and medicine on campus, with benefits for athletes everywhere.”
Notre Dame said the project will support up to 150 construction jobs, as well as a number of permanent jobs in the athletics department, though a specific number was not provided.
A timeline for construction was not immediately known.
“Shields Hall is more than just a football facility,” Jack Shields said in the release. “Kathy and I wanted to provide a center that will provide resources for our players’ minds, bodies and spirits during their time at Notre Dame and beyond. We want to ensure our team can play like champions today and live like champions for the rest of their lives.”
Jack Shields graduated from Notre Dame in 1983 and was the CEO of specialty pharmacy accelerator Shields Health Solutions until 2021, when the company was acquired by Walgreens.
The couple also provided the initial funding in 2019 for Project LAND, or “Life After Notre Dame,” which seeks to provide student-athletes with tools and resources to succeed at Notre Dame and beyond.