BOWLING GREEN — The head of a Toledo glass engineering and contracting company has donated $2 million to Bowling Green State University for renovations to the university’s ice arena.
Scott Slater, chairman of Toledo Engineering Co., has worked 37 years with the company, which is headquartered on Executive Parkway. According to university officials, the BGSU alumnus has long supported both university and high school hockey in Bowling Green.
BGSU’s trustees voted Friday to rename the university’s hockey arena after Mr. Slater’s family. The Slater Family Ice Arena is 50 years old, and Mr. Slater said he hopes his donation will help it last for decades more.
“I look forward to the challenge of trying to get our old lady a new heart this summer and get her repaired so she can go another 50 years,” he said.
In a BGSU news release, Mary Ellen Mazey, president of Bowling Green State University, referred to the Slaters as a “true Falcon Family.” Mr. Slaters’ four sons have each been part of the highly successful Bowling Green High School hockey program and on teams that won state championships or finished as state runners-up. His two daughters participated in figure skating.
“Through the years, they have made the university central to their lives with support of BGSU hockey and many community programs such as high school hockey and figure skating,” Ms. Mazey said. “It is fitting, and inspirational, that their dedication become a permanent part of the university with the naming of the Slater Family Ice Arena.”
A design study for the arena is under way. The donation will be celebrated Feb. 11 at the Ice Arena 50th Anniversary Community Celebration — a weekend-long event during which 1967 alumnus Mike “Doc” Emrick will return to broadcast the BGSU hockey game against Mercyhurst.
Mr. Slater said he considered an education the most valuable asset one can have, while athletics is important for building character.
“I think together when you have both of them you have a great chance at being successful at life,” Mr. Slater said.
The board renamed several other sites at the university Friday, including its sound recording archives after longtime employee Bill Schurk. Mr. Schurk has led the archives for 50 years and is retiring this month.
The archives have more than 1 million recording items, and according to the university are the largest popular music recordings collection in a North American academic library. University officials note Mr. Schurk has donated, through either cash or in-kind donations, about $460,000 to the archives during his career.
He graduated from BGSU in 1966, and joined the archives in 1967 when it opened.
“This university has been my life,” Mr. Schurk said. “Thank you."
Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.
First Published December 10, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
