As reported last month, UA donors (not athletics) raised about $330 million from its constituents the last two years, far more than ASU’s reported figure of $207 million. Everyone took a bow and moved on. The money-raising game never ends. In Greg Byrne’s four years at Arizona, the athletic department has raised more than $55 million for football and basketball projects. Given the spotlight on fundraising at Arizona and ASU, I suspect former Arizona associate AD Tom Sanders, who rarely got public mention during the Cedric Dempsey and Jim Livengood days, worked at a Hall-of-Fame level like none other in UA/ASU sports history. Sanders was the point man on money raised for the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, LaNelle Robson Tennis Center, Fred Enke Plaza, the Button Salmon Memorial, creation of the UA Sports Hall of Fame displays in the McKale Center corridors and concourses, the Hillenbrand Auditorium and Academic/Meeting Center in McKale, Rita Hillenbrand Softball Stadium, new dugouts at Sancet Field, a mountain of memorabilia for what would become the Jim Click Hall of Champions and a pile of money in support of individual sports, via the Sport Interest Group system (now extinct). Sanders continues to work in private fundraising for a Tucson firm.
UA athletics short stuff: Former associate AD Sanders helped set the table for current inflow of donor money
University of Arizona donor Jeff Stevens, left, and football coach Rich Rodriguez, right. Stevens' donation helped lead to the Lowell-Stevens Football facility and contributed to Greg Byrne's enormous donation intake since his arrival.
