Jim Hurley III, former publisher of the Salisbury
Post, and his family have given $1 million to the campaign to build a new
Shuford Stadium at Catawba College.
Hurley made the gift in memory of three people:
his father, J.F. Hurley Jr., who was business manager, publisher or chairman of
the Post for 66 years; Dr. Stephen H. Wurster, president of Catawba from 1981 to
1992; and Gordon Kirkland, successful football, baseball and basketball coach at
Catawba during the late 1930s and ’40s.
Catawba College Senior Vice President Tom
Childress called the Hurleys’ gift “a tremendous lead commitment” to the
$2.5-million stadium project. The stadium project still needs to raise another
$1 million to meet its goal.
Officials expect this fall will be the last time
the football team plays in the existing Shuford Stadium, which was constructed
in 1928.
Plans call for demolishing the stadium in
November and beginning construction on the new stadium in January or February.
Supporters hope the new facility will be ready in August 2002, before the
football season.
Catawba College President Fred Corriher Jr. said
he is gratified by Hurley’s ability to “solicit himself” when funds are
needed for a particular project.
“Jim Hurley is one of the most remarkable
individuals ever to serve on Catawba College’s Board of Trustees. He is in the
habit of making lead gifts to jump-start projects which he feels will have a
significant impact on the life of the college,” Corriher said. “His and his
family’s gifts are behind many of the important and progressive projects in
Rowan County, including Elizabeth Hurley Park, the Meroney Theatre, Rufty-Holmes
Senior Center, Spencer Shops, Dan Nicholas Park, four YMCAs and Livingstone
College.”
“He and Gordon have heeded their father’s
directive to them to ‘give something back’ to the people of Rowan County who
supported the Salisbury Post over the years.”
Hurley said his family, including his brother
Gordon and Jennifer Hurley, widow of Haden Hurley, will provide a portion of the
$1 million gift to build a new press box through the Hurley Foundation.
That gift echoes one his father made in 1973 to
build the original Hurley Press Box at the existing stadium.
Hurley and his wife, Gerry, will provide the
funding for the President’s Box at the new stadium in memory of Wurster.
“Gerry and I were very close to Steve and Jean (Wurster),” Hurley explained.
“Steve did a lot of the fund-raising for Catawba in that box.”
Hurley himself will provide the funding for a new
and improved football field in memory of Kirkland.
“That field needs better contouring, irrigation
and drainage,” Hurley said. “I overheard Coach (David) Bennett saying that
the University of Georgia had the best field he’d ever seen.
“Course Crafters, which built Georgia’s
field, was rebuilding the back nine at the Salisbury Country Club at that time.
I thought that if this company could do such a good job at Georgia, it could
certainly build a wonderful football field for Catawba.”
Hurley said he admired Kirkland. “I learned to
love sports following Coach Kirkland and the Catawba players he coached,” he
said. “My first football hero was Charlie Clark who played tailback in the
’30s. I also followed the careers of Dwight Holshouser, Charlie Gabriel and
the Bowen twins, Harold and Carroll, among others.
“I have had only two problems with Catawba
athletics,” Hurley joked. “My elementary class went to Winston-Salem in the
’40s to hear an opera, and I missed Lefty Lisk’s no-hitter at Newman Park. I
haven’t felt the same about opera since then.
“My second problem was that Coach Kirkland
underestimated Charlie Gabriel. Kirkland complained to President Truman that the
U.S. Military Academy stole Gabriel from Catawba only because he was a good
football player. But Gabriel proved that he was more than that. He shot down
enemy planes in Korea, served in Vietnam, advanced to the rank of four-star
general and became chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force.”
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