You Are Here
On behalf of my colleagues on the Board of Trustees, welcome to Randolph-Macon and the new Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park. I am honored to be here today to celebrate the dedication of this spectacular baseball facility.
This project was first dreamt of in 2007 in board meetings about the college’s 20-year facilities footprint. Through the leadership and vision of President Bob Lindgren, an ambitious campus master plan for the college’s future took shape that included a stand-alone ballpark for Randolph-Macon baseball.
For those of you that have not had a tour of the new facility, it features several outdoor batting cages, both home and away bullpens, a state-of the-art suspension backstop so fans like us will have an unobstructed view of the field, a state-of-the art communications system that includes an outstanding sound system and dugout and bullpen phones for both home and visiting teams, the “Macon Monster,” otherwise known as the 16-foot wall running from left field to center field, and, of course, brick sidewalks and permanent stands which aesthetically tie the ballpark into the surrounding Randolph-Macon campus.
The ambition to plan to build this type of facility takes a serious commitment from alumni and supporters of the baseball program. I’d like to take a minute to recognize one of my teammates and classmates, Mac Felts. Mac is the chairman of the Baseball Fundraising Steering Committee and through his efforts and those of the volunteers on the committee, we are standing in an outstanding facility. Mac, can you and your committee please stand and accept our congratulations.
Mac and his committee do have a bit of unfinished business to tend to and are still working hard to secure the remaining funding needed to successfully conclude the ballpark fundraising campaign. Mac, I look forward to commending your committee again when we reach our goal.
It is now my pleasure to turn today’s program over to President Bob Lindgren. Bob is in his sixth year as Randolph-Macon’s president and under his vision the college has instituted programs like the four-year degree guarantee; has added several new majors and curriculum enhancements; launched a campus master plan, which has broken ground on several new facilities – including a fantastic baseball facility; and completed an ambitious strategic plan for the college. Bob and is wife Cheryl have also found time to host countless numbers of students and alumni in their home, which has earned Bob the title of “the student’s president.”