Walkers support new softball stadium

Zac ’60 and Dot Walker

Elon trustee Zac Walker ’60 and his wife, Dot, of Raleigh, N.C., have continued their generous support of Phoenix athletics and the Ever Elon Campaign by making a $100,000 gift to Hunt Softball Park, which will be located off of Williamson Avenue opposite baseball’s Walter C. Latham Park. The stadium is named for Elon trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam Hunt, following a $500,000 gift from the couple in October.

“The softball stadium is vitally needed to allow our softball team to compete on a level playing field,” Zac Walker says. “They’ve earned it. They have won a Southern Conference Championship. I hope it will inspire these student-athletes to give their best to Elon because they can see Elon is trying to give its best to them.”

Hunt Softball Park will be completed in three phases. The parking lot is finished and the remainder of the first phase includes a state-of-the-art field, dugouts, lighting, scoreboard, press box and grandstand seating. The remaining phases include additional seating, a clubhouse with locker rooms, an entry plaza and a permanent space for concessions.

Walker is impressed by the growth of the university’s north athletics complex.

“Athletics is one of the pillars of the college experience, and the north athletics complex has given all of us a place to get together to renew friendships and enjoy being at Elon,” he says.

The Walkers are among Elon’s most generous donors. They have endowed several scholarships and supported numerous other university priorities, including Rhodes Stadium and the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center. The couple made a $500,000 gift to Alumni Field House in honor of Zac’s father, Zachary T. Walker Jr., a member of Elon’s Sports Hall of Fame, and Zac’s uncle, D.C. “Peahead” Walker, another of Elon’s all-time great coaches. The Walker Room and Terrace overlooking Rhodes Stadium and Zac Walker Place, the roadway leading to the Field House, are named in their honor. The Walkers are members of the Phoenix Club IMPACT Circle.

Fundraising will continue for Hunt Softball Park with construction expected to begin next spring and the initial phase of the field to be completed in spring 2013.