Steve Snyder ’56 P’83 has pledged $15 million toward the construction of a new athletic complex on the Andover campus. The facility aims to bring more athletics indoors, improve the athletic curriculum and enhance both Lifetime Instructional and Fitness Education (L.I.F.E.) sports and team experiences.
The donation was made to honor Snyder’s upcoming 60th Andover reunion this June. The construction of the 90,000 square-foot facility will begin this summer and is slotted to finish in December 2017.
“The new complex will provide a new indoor 200-meter track, 12 new squash courts, multi-purpose rooms for classes or functions that look out onto the stadium, new locker facilities and many great breakout spaces. The infield of the track will have four indoor tennis courts that can also be used for basketball,” wrote Larry Muench, Director of Facilities in the Office of the Physical Plant, in an email to The Phillipian.
Snyder’s pledge has covered nearly half of the slated goal of $34 million for the new complex. The project signals the commencement of Phase One of the Athletics Facilities Master Plan.
During his time at Andover, Snyder was an eight-letter track star. His Junior year, Snyder won the New England Interscholastic 40-Yard Dash. He was then awarded the Sorota Track Trophy at his Commencement, an award given for his “outstanding character and the will to win.”
“We are so grateful that Steve’s Andover experience—his admiration for Coach Sorota and lifelong relationships with classmates and friends—continues to have profound meaning in his life,” said Head of School John Palfrey in an Andover press release. “The generosity of Steve and his family ensures that generations of students will continue to develop their own personal connections while experiencing the joys of competition, teamwork and camaraderie in a state-of-the-art facility.”
In the Andover press release, Snyder said, “I like to make connections for people. The athletic center will help to do that as well—serving track and many other sports and needs. It will be a wonderful example of the ways in which these types of facilities should be used today—as a place for the community to gather.”
