Breaking Ground On The New Locker Room

MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/20/13)—Concordia held the official groundbreaking ceremony for the multi-million dollar locker room facility as part of the “Update the Jake” Outdoor Facility Project on Monday.

“Faith and family is at the core of who we are,” commented football coach Terry Horan. “And it sure makes me proud to see how - time and time again - our Concordia family and friends who have incredible faith in the mission of our college have stepped up to the plate and finished this project.”



- Groundbreaking Ceremony Video


- Ground Breaking Ceremony Picture Gallery




The locker room is the third phase in the outdoor facility project and will cost approximately $2.9 million. It will feature locker room space for the football team and women’s soccer teams in the fall and the baseball and softball teams in the spring. The old football locker rooms will be updated and house locker rooms for the men’s soccer team in the fall and men’s and women’s track and field teams in the spring. 

Between football, two soccer programs, baseball, softball and two outdoor track programs, the facility will serve around 400 student athlete participants.  The increased numbers in all seven programs over the course of the last 20 years have created tremendous strain on athletic training, laundry and equipment needs. The new locker room facility will be the first major building improvement to the outdoor athletic complex since Jake Christiansen Stadium was built in 1966.

“The facility is a testament to the success in recruiting student-athletes to Concordia,” stated former Athletic Director Larry Papenfuss.

Papenfuss, who is now the Director of External Relations and was one of the lead fundraisers on the project, went on to say, “the athletic recruitment of our coaches has become increasingly important to the success of the college's overall recruitment goals.”

The locker room will be named the Wayne and Beverly Thorson Athletic Center. Wayne attended Concordia and has served on the Concordia Board of Regents. He is a retired businessman who owned and operated his own construction and contracting business in Bemidji.     

“We are so thankful for the gracious and generous gift of our former regent, Wayne Thorson, and his wife Beverly,” stated Papenfuss. “They know how significant this project is for athletic recruiting.  We could not have gotten it done without their faithful support of Concordia.”

 In addition to the locker rooms, the facility will include a state-of-the-art training room as well as a brand new laundry facility and equipment room space. The training room will be named the Sanford Health Athletic Training Facility after a donation from Sanford Health.  

“I want to extend a special thanks to Sanford Health for their ongoing support of Cobber athletics and for the training room,” noted Concordia President Dr. William Craft.   
 
The construction for the locker room started at the beginning of May and will continue for the next nine months. The locker room will be available for use in the spring of 2014 and will be officially dedicated on Homecoming weekend of 2014.