Tri-State University’s new athletic stadium for football, soccer, and lacrosse will take the name Fred Zollner Stadium, after the university’s receipt of a $1 million commitment from the Zollner Foundation.

Artificial turf is being installed now, and will be ready for play by mid-June. The stadium with a new grandstand for the home fans, press boxes, hotel/hospitality rooms, restrooms, concessions, locker rooms and offices will follow over the next year.

Additional improvements to athletic facilities on campus will include two new practice football fields, a new baseball grandstand and press box, new parking lots, sidewalks, restrooms, and concessions.

With the original gift of the Zollner Golf Course provided through the generosity and support of Fred Zollner, former TSU Board of Trustees member, TSU’s connection to the Zollner Corp. and foundation has continued for decades.

Zollner’s colorful history reaches back to Fort Wayne in the ’30s, where he and his father had moved their Duluth, Minn. metal manufacturing plant. Fred Zollner eventually grew the piston-making plant to 1,800 workers and established the the Zollner Pistons, a popular basketball franchise that won the world championship in 1944 and 1945.

The university’s support from the Zollner Foundation has long continued since Mr. Zollner’s death in 1982, through foundation director and former TSU Trustee Marjorie Bowstrom. Through the foundation, thousands in endowed scholarships for deserving students and funds for educational improvement have been dispensed to TSU.

“We are grateful to once again be the beneficiaries of the Zollner Foundation’s vision and generosity,” said TSU President Earl D. Brooks II. “We are honored by our long association with Fred Zollner through his philanthropic foundation. It underscores their support for and positive impact on shaping the lives of young men and women who will attend our institution.”