for $40,(
$757,000
Donation
For Stadium
By DICK RICHARDSON
Bee Staff Writer
The fund drive for the new 30,000-
seat football-soccer stadium for Fresno State University was given a big
boost Monday with the donation of
$757,000 by Duncan Enterprises of
Fresno. The gift was the largest ever
made to the university for any purpose.
The gift is in the form of all the
stock in the Picker Parts Corporation, a company owned by Duncan
Enterprises. FSU is expected to sell
the stock which is valued at $757,000.
Including the gift from Duncan
Enterprises, $5,005,834 has been
raised from donations. With the $1.3
million from the sale of Ratcliffe
Stadium, the drive total stands at
$6,305,834. The stadium cost is estimated at $7.3 million, meaning the
drive has about $1 million to go.
Norman Baxter, university president, said the contribution "makes
the stadium almost a reality for us."
He said architectural drawings for
the stadium should be completed in
about 30 days, at which time he said
it is hoped the remaining $1 million
will have been raised. He said the
university cannot seek bids for the
stadium until all the funds have been
raised.
Russell Giffen, a chairman of the
See Stadium, Back Page
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See City, Back Page
Bee Photo by Richard J. Darby
Robert Duncan, Leon Peters, Norman Baxter and Russell Giffen, from left, at FSU stadium fund announcement.
Stadium: A Big Gift
■I
Continued From Page Al
stadium drive, said that to his knowledge the Duncan donation is the single largest amount ever contributed
in this part of the valley.
Robert Duncan, president of Duncan Enterprises, the nation's leading
manufacturer of ceramic supplies,
said, "We think a great deal of the
university and what it means to the
community, and what it means to the
Scaffold Tragedy
Report Protested
WILLOW ISLAND, W.Va. (AP) A
Families of some of the workers
killed in a scaffold collapse here are
unhappy with Secretary of Labor
Ray Marshall's claimed satisfaction
with the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration's inspection
record at the site and its report on
the disaster.
"We ... are not that tolerant,"
R.V. Bowser, chairman of the Willow
Island Disaster Organization, said
Sunday. "By its own admission,
OSHA must accept a fair share of the
responsiblity for this reckless, useless waste of precious human life."
The group wants an independent
investigation of the April 27 accident
that killed 51.
community from an economic standpoint. We think the athletic program
is important in helping the university
grow."
Duncan, who also is a member of
the stadium steering committee,
added, "We would hope the faith we
are showing in the university would
be an inspiration to other companies
and families to do something of a
similar nature. It just would not take
too many more contributions to raise
the rest of the money and get a first-
class facility."
Leon Peters, co-chairman of the
steering committee along with Giffen
and Lewis S. Eaton, who was not
present, said the contribution "exemplifies the type of people Fresno has
today, people not forgetting the
community in which they live. They
(the Duncan family) are the kind of
people who make a community
grow."
Other members of the family, including Duncan's mother, Irma,
were present at a press conference at
Duncan's facilities are at 5673 E.
Shields Ave. The board of directors
of Duncan Enterprises is composed
primarily of Duncan family mem-
hers
The natural turf stadium is
planned on a location south ofBar-
stow Avenue between Cedar and Mil-
lbrook avenues. It will be surrounded
by 40 acres of turfed athletic fields
that will be used for parking during
stadium events.
20,000-oeat Stadium 'Go'
By BOB MCCARTHY
Bee Sports Writer
Reducing the scope of the project
and eliminating some of the
"esthetics," Fresno State University
now plans to build a 20,000-seat
^ New stadium sketch, El
campus football-soccer stadium with
completion, hopefully, by the start of
the 1980 season.
That means a reduction of 10,000
seats from the original concept of a
30,000-seat stadium and a delay of as
much as six months before the start
of construction.
Leon Peters, cochairman of the
Stadium Steering Cbmmittee, announced Tuesday that the project
architect, Robert Stevens Associates,
has been directed to redesign the
stadium for 20,000 seats and "eliminate some of the frills."
Those "frills," plus inflation, resulted last month in a low bid of $10.4
million by Robert G. Fisher Co. Inc.
of Fresno for construction of the'
complete 30,000-seat facility, more
than $3 pillion higher than Stevens'
$7.3 million estimate.
The Fisher bid for a basic stadium, seating 20,000 and including
field, lights, restrooms, concession
stands, press box and earth berm,
was $8,025,000, and the new design
will incorporate those features, with
some modifications to reduce costs.
While some items are being
shaved to lower the $8 million figure,
Peters noted, the Stadium Fund
Drive will be extended to help bridge
the dollar gap. To date, the fund totals $6.5 million, including $5.2 million in seat-option sales and major
donations and $1.3 million from the
proceeds of the sale of Ratcliffe Stadium.
William "Bill" Holmes, FSU executive vice president, said he anticipates "the complete redesign of the
stadium would take five to six
months," at which time the plans
would have to be submitted to the
State Colleges and Universities'
Board of Trustees for approval. FSU
officials hope construction could then
begin by June.
Holmes said there may be "a net
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