December 18, 2009
Hamilton Donates $500K to BGSU
CHN Staff Report
Bowling Green's scholarship and arena fund-raising campaign, targeted to raise $5 million over five years, is right on track, thanks in no small part to Olympic figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton.
Hamilton, a Bowling Green, Ohio, native, has donated $500,000 to the "Bring Back the Glory!" campaign, established last summer after numerous discussions about how to save the Bowling Green hockey program.
Hamilton's donation, the largest to date, will endow the Scott Hamilton Hockey Scholarship.
"I am excited to help bring the facility back to those glory days where other young people from BG can build their own memories and dreams," Hamilton said in the Sentinel-Tribune. "I have no idea who, what or where I would be without the BGSU Ice Arena."
Hamilton, the honorary chairman of the fund-raising campaign, also endowed a scholarship in the name of his parents, who were both professors at the university.
Hamilton is hoping his contribution will spur others to join in.
"It would be a terrible shame to allow this miraculous place to diminish any further," Hamilton told the paper. "What single place has brought more pride to the city of Bowling Green than the Ice Arena? Let's work together to build a new foundation of quality, integrity and plain old-fashioned fun."
Hamilton won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. He had an accomplished professional career, and has since had an Emmy Award nomination for his figure skating television commentary.
Hamilton has also become a motivational speaker, after surviging cancer and a brain tumor
