Saint Louis University dignitaries gathered outside Chaifetz Arena Tuesday afternoon to officially break ground on the O'Loughlin Family Champions Center.
Construction soon will begin in earnest on the 25,000-square-foot, best-in-class facility that will make a positive impact on all 400+ Billiken student-athletes. It will deliver programming related to academic advising, spiritual development, sports performance, nutrition, wellness, and sports psychology. The O'Loughlin Family Champions Center will feature cutting-edge technology throughout the building to help deliver on the department's strategic objectives, which are to educate, compete, and build community. For more information on key components of the O'Loughlin Family Champions Center, click
here. The facility is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2023.
At Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony, SLU Director of Athletics Chris May shared the vision of the O'Loughlin Family Champions Center in his address to the audience.
"The vision of the O'Loughlin Family Champions Center is to ensure we are delivering the very best experience in the country for our student-athletes," May said. "Everything from academic support, career support, nutrition, and spiritual development, just to name a few. Today is a great day to be a Billiken. This ceremony provides a chance for us to celebrate the wonderful community of individuals who support our students, and I could not be more proud to have you all here today."
Also addressing those in attendance were University President Dr. Fred Pestello, SLU Board of Trustees chairman Joe Conran, SLU Board of Trustees member and key donor Bob O'Loughlin, head women's soccer coach Katie Shields, head men's basketball coach Travis Ford, and student-athletes Sydney Beach and Yuri Collins. Billiken Athletics chaplain Michael Rozier, S.J., blessed the site prior to the ceremony, and May led the attendees in a champagne toast following the groundbreaking.
