Football field, future facility get official names

Coach Mark Mangino and athletics officials honored Tom Kivisto for his recent gift.

Football announcers doing play-by-play this fall at Memorial Stadium will have a new name to remember.

KU has named the football field inside the stadium Kivisto Field. The University also revealed that the name of a planned football facility near the stadium will be the Anderson Family Football Complex.

The names recognize primary donors for the $31-million football complex: former KU basketball team captain Tom Kivisto and his wife, Julie; and Dana and Sue Anderson and their son, Justin, and his wife, Jean.

The Anderson family has contributed $2 million to the project and committed an additional $10 million. The Kivisto family has contributed $4 million and committed an additional $8 million. Several other families—Charles and Sharon Lynch Kimbell of Hutchinson, Frank Sabatini and family of Topeka and Ken Wagnon of Wichita—have also contributed to the project.

The football complex will be built adjacent to Memorial Stadium but will not interfere with the KU graduation tradition of walking down Campanile Hill to the stadium. The building will include offices, academic areas, a weight room, locker rooms, an audio-visual room, meeting rooms, a cardio room, a hydro-therapy room, a nutrition area and a display area.

HNTB Architecture of Kansas City, Mo., has been selected to produce the architectural program, outlining space needs and estimated costs for review by the Kansas Board of Regents and the Legislature's Joint Committee for Building Construction. After that, plans and specifications will be drawn for construction. The architectural firm will work with the University Building Committee to develop and select the design and site for the project.

It is anticipated that construction will begin in 2007 and will be completed in summer 2008.

Other construction projects at KU: http://www.buildings.ku.edu/new.shtml