Jim D. Morris makes significant donation to MSU

Longtime Springfield philanthropist and entrepreneur Jim D. Morris presented a significant contribution March 7 to the Missouri State University Foundation, the school's fundraising arm, to help foot the bill for a two-level complex inside JQH Arena that would house locker rooms and other amenities.

Construction of the $3 million to $4 million facility is expected to begin by the end of the year, and the target for completion is the fall of 2013, said Brent Dunn, executive director of the MSU Foundation and vice president for university advancement. Dunn said the next step in the project would be to bring a general contractor and architect on board. Dunn added that not all funding has been raised for the project, but he expects fundraising efforts to finish by the summer.

Though Morris and Dunn declined to disclose the amount of the contribution, it was enough to earn naming rights for the complex. MSU Interim President Clif Smart will recommend during the school's March 30 board of governors meeting that the 15,000-square-foot portion of the arena be named the Jim D. Morris Basketball Complex.

Morris said he felt it was important to give back to MSU, which he said educated his children and many others.

"I feel fortunate," he said. "We've had a good opportunity here. It's just kind of close to me.

"We feel that MSU does a lot of good for educating young people in this area, and we feel good about helping out when we can."

Morris' 1998 donation to the school helped to renovate the Jim D. Morris Center in downtown Springfield, and a 2008 gift allowed the school to fund the Jim D. Morris Family Strength and Conditioning Center in Hammons Student Center.

The latest donation will allow the school to move forward on construction of the complex, which would include locker rooms for both the men's and women's basketball teams, coaches' offices, an athletic training facility, an academic study area and a video room. Dunn added that a gift for an undisclosed amount was given to the school by the McQueary family in 2007, so the men's basketball locker room will be dubbed the McQueary Family Locker Room.

Dunn said about $1 million of the arena's roughly $67 million price tag was spent on the shell of the complex. JQH Arena opened in November 2008.

Currently, players use locker rooms located in the adjacent Hammons Student Center, and travel through an underground passage between the two buildings to the arena.
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