President's Report 2007 - Benedict College

BENEDICT
COLLEGE
Head Football Coach, Mr. Stanley Conners; Athletic Director, Mr. Willie
Washington; Palmetto Capital City Classic MVP and Quarter Back
Mr. Markus Webb; President Swinton; and Mr. Willie Jefferies, Executive
Director, 2007 Palmetto Capital City Classic
BRICK BY BRICK,
OUR CAMPUS GROWS
The new stadium trumps a new era in Benedict College
athletics, the first piece of a much larger $25 million LeRoy
Walker Health and Wellness Complex. Dr. Walker, 88, was an All-
American at Benedict in three sports, first as a Deacon, then a Tiger
from 1937-1940. Former chancellor of North Carolina Central University,
Walker coached more than 100 All-Americans, 40 national champions,
and 12 Olympians from six different countries. He also served as the
President of the 1995 Olympic games, held in Atlanta, Georgia. He has
been elevated to emeritus status as a member of the Benedict College
Board of Trustees.
Additional physical developments are planned for the Walker Complex
area, including a MainStays Suites Hotel and significant retail shopping.
These developments cap several years of renovation and revitalization
by Benedict and City of Columbia and others of the Two Notch Road
area adjacent to the College. Read
Street is now lined with new
homes. The same holds true for
the former Saxon Homes public
housing complex, replaced by the
Celia Saxon neighborhood. More
than $10 million has been spent
in landscaping which lines the
streets of Two Notch Road from
Taylor Street to Beltline Boulevard.
Finally, the new Drew Health and
Wellness center, one of the city’s
finest such facilities, welcomes
hundreds daily through its doors
for swimming, and aerobics,
weight training, compliments the
campus neighborhood.
The Health and Wellness Complex is named after
Board of Trustees Emeritus, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker,
who was the President of the United States
Olympic Committee Games and a 1940 graduate
of Benedict College.
23