According to West Virginia University alumni leader David K. Hendrickson, there’s only one “team” at WVU that consistently remains undefeated — the Mountaineer Marching Band.
“Through the years, win, lose or draw, the band is always fantastic,” Hendrickson said. “They’ve never missed a pass. They’ve never missed a field goal. They’ve never missed a free throw or thrown a ball away to the third baseman. They’re our heroes.”
Hendrickson’s passion for the band motivated him to make a $50,000 gift to support the Pride Practice Field and Facility in conjunction with this year’s WVU Day of Giving. He challenged other alumni to match his gift, raising over $150,000 in total to support the project.
Hendrickson, of Charleston, said he is grateful he can help to provide a weather-protected, dedicated rehearsal space for future members of the “Pride of West Virginia.”
“If you watch the band and think about how intricate their moves are on our football field and realize that all starts in the middle of summer in a parking lot over by the Coliseum, how they take that and translate that over to the football field flawlessly every weekend is beyond my imagination,” Hendrickson said. “I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for them to have their new practice field and facility. I’m so tickled to be able to help them with that project.”
Phase one of the donor-driven project at the Med Fields on the Health Sciences area of campus will create an artificial turf football field, to be called Don Wilcox Field, and relocate the band tower.
Construction is now underway and slated for completion this summer, in time for the start of fall band camp.
Later phases of the project will involve construction of a new storage building and covered pavilion. When not in use by the band, the field will be used for intramural sports.
“David is a longtime friend and supporter of the band, and we’re so grateful for his passion for ‘The Pride,’” Keith Jackson, dean of the WVU College of Creative Arts and Media, said. “This dedicated practice field and facility has been a long time coming. It’s thrilling to see excavators at work and progress being made, and we can attribute that progress to our loyal friends and alumni who have stuck with us through and through. Their dedication is unwavering and awe-inspiring.”
Hendrickson has been a passionate WVU supporter since he was a student. He came to WVU in 1975 and made the most of his experience by getting involved on campus, even serving as student body president from 1978–79.
Hendrickson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1979 and a law degree in 1982. He has practiced law for more than 30 years as a founding partner of the firm Hendrickson & Long, PLLC.
His leadership continued after graduation with the WVU Alumni Association, for which he previously served as president of the Board of Directors. He was honored as Outstanding Alumnus during Homecoming festivities in 2004.
Lysander Dudley, executive director of the WVU Foundation from 1976–83, helped nurture Hendrickson’s love for the band as a student and instilled the importance of donor support by inviting him to the Foundation suite for football games.
He’s never forgotten that message, providing generous support to the Alumni Association, Athletics, the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Law and more over the years.
His appreciation for the Mountaineer Marching Band has grown stronger as a Milan Puskar Stadium boxholder for more than 30 years. He also enjoys seeing the band on the road for away games, an experience he said reiterates the band’s importance to WVU.
“The band is the ambassador for the school,” Hendrickson said. “Everywhere you go, people know the band. If you go on the road with our team anywhere at all, you hear people comment from other schools, ‘Man, that band is pretty good.’ Everybody loves the band.”
WVU alumni and friends interested in supporting the Pride Practice Field and Facility can make a gift online. All gifts are made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.
