Athletics Receives Record $8 Million Gift From Pam and Les Muma
TAMPA, NOV. 13, 2017– USF Athletics and the USF Foundation announced on Saturday night an $8 million gift to Athletics from Pam and Les Muma, the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the program.
"Pam and Les Muma are simply incredible and their passion and support for the University of South Florida and USF Athletics are truly transformative," USF Director of Athletics
Mark Harlan said. "We are so thankful for the tremendous generosity and leadership of the Mumas, which continues to have profound impacts across our university and, in particular, in making our shared vision for a world-class student-athlete experience a reality."
Pam and Les Muma, whose landmark philanthropy has made a transformative impact on the University of South Florida, made a surprise announcement of the new major gift of $15 million during an event Saturday night at Amalie Arena celebrating the
USF: Unstoppable campaign's historic achievement of raising $1 billion. The gift will benefit three areas of the university the Mumas already support: business, athletics and health.
The Mumas designated $8 million of their most recent $15 million total gift to the university to USF Athletics, with $5 million going toward the construction of the recently announced 160,000-square foot USF Football Center that will include an indoor practice field. The Mumas also gave $1 million to USF men's basketball, $1 million to USF women's basketball and $1 million to the USF men's golf program.
"Pam and I are extremely excited to make this new investment in the university," said Les Muma, who graduated from USF in 1966 with a degree in business and served as chair of the
USF: Unstoppable campaign from 2006-2013. "We're in the business of formatively shaping young people and preparing them for the future."
The Mumas, who remain the top individual donors to USF, have now given a total of more than $56 million to the university, including the largest single gift in USF's history of $25 million to name the Muma College of Business in 2014. Their previous giving also made possible the Pam and Les Muma Basketball Center, a state-of-the-art facility for USF's men's and women's basketball programs connected to the Sun Dome.
"Pam and Les understand USF's impact on the community and how the lives of our students are transformed through philanthropy," said Joel Momberg, CEO of the USF Foundation. "Their long history of support has created a unique legacy that continues today with yet another transformational gift that underscores their generosity…
Unstoppable."
The Muma's gift added an exclamation point to the billion-dollar milestone: USF is now one of only three U.S. public universities founded since 1956 to raise that amount in a single campaign (along with the University of California San Diego and the University of California Irvine).
The USF: Unstoppable campaign has made possible the construction of several new Athletics facilities:
• Corbett Soccer Stadium
• Golf Center
• Gonzmart Family Plaza
• Frank Morsani Football Complex
• Pam and Les Muma Basketball Center
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015, having begun with a men's soccer contest in 1965. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 13 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including four in 2016-17, and own 110 conference championships overall. Ten USF programs reached national post-season competition in the 2016-17 season and nine were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a program-record 86 percent Graduation Success Rate in 2016, logged an annual department grade-point average over a 3.0 for the second straight year and saw 106 student-athletes earn their degree during the 2016-17 academic period.
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- #GoBulls –
