Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State will dedicate its new $19.1 million indoor recreation and fitness facility Oct. 17 during the university's 1998 Homecoming weekend.
Ceremonies officially opening the Joe Frank Sanderson Sr. Center begin at 10:45 a.m. at the front entranceway of the 150,000 square-foot building. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in the lobby area.
A ribbon-cutting will follow brief remarks by university President Malcolm Portera and President Emeritus Donald Zacharias, along with Rep. Tim Ford of Tupelo, speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and MSU Student Association President Brad Sweet of Cleveland.
William R. Sanderson, son of the late Laurel businessman whose major contribution made the center possible, will respond for the family. A 1978 MSU graduate, he is marketing director for Sanderson Farms, one of the nation's largest integrated processors of fresh and frozen chicken and other food products.
A reception and tours of the building will conclude the morning program.
Open to students, faculty and staff since June, the Sanderson Center is the largest of its kind in the state and ranks among the most modern facilities of its kind in the region. Operated by the office of recreational sports, it offers swimming, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, badminton, weightlifting, rock climbing, and jogging, among others.
Joe Frank Sanderson, who died last year, was a 1947 Mississippi State graduate. During a long career, he served as director and chairman of the Mississippi Poultry Association and National Broiler Council, chairman of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, and president of the Business and Industry Political Education Committee. He also was a Ruling Elder in the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Laurel.
In 1989, he established the $1 million Joe Frank and Ann Sanderson Fund for Excellence at MSU to promote excellence in teaching, research and service programs in the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business and Industry.
For more information on the Sanderson Center dedication, telephone (601) 325-7529.