TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6:00 pm
Without a billionaire oil tycoon listed in his Rolodex, athletic director Steve Pederson says he’s content to raise money for Nebraska’s athletic department the old-fashioned way. “We spend a lot of time going out and seeing people and explaining to them what we’re trying to accomplish all the way through our athletic department,” Pederson said Tuesday, the same day that Oklahoma State — yes, Oklahoma State — announced an unprecedented $165 million gift from 77-year-old alum Boone Pickens.
“I’ve been saying for some time that it’s not … just the usual suspects that are building facilities and doing these kind of dramatic things,” Pederson said. “That’s one of the reasons why I felt we needed to move forward as quickly as we could to get our facilities back at the head of the game.”
Tuesday’s staggering announcement doesn’t change anything for Nebraska, Pederson said, except to possibly raise awareness of the importance of private gifts in funding a major project like the one under way at Memorial Stadium.
A year has passed since Charles and Romona Myers announced their $5 million donation, then a record gift to NU’s athletic program. Pederson, however, said excellent progress has been made since last fall’s announcement that a total of $22 million had been pledged.
He declined to give an exact dollar figure at this time. Work on the $50 million project is to be completed this fall.