Pretty nice gesture by VT to honor former AD Jim Weaver, who passed away earlier this summer:
Virginia Tech baseball’s hitting facility has been renamed in honor of the university’s former athletics director Jim Weaver, whose tenure from 1997-2013 saw tremendous development in the national profile of the university’s athletic programs.
Completed in 2009, the more than 8,000-square-foot facility (please see rendering attached) is one of multiple athletics buildings that were constructed or expanded during Weaver’s time at Virginia Tech, during which the university joined the BIG EAST Conference and later the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Weaver, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004, died in July 2015 at age 70. A 1967 graduate of Penn State, he played football for Joe Paterno. Before coming to Virginia Tech, Weaver served as athletics director at Western Michigan University and at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
During his time at Virginia Tech, the Department of Athletics committed more than $220 million toward facilities, including the building Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in May 2014. He was presented the John L. Toner Award by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame in 2009 in recognition of his administrative abilities and dedication to college sports, particularly football.
That same year saw the opening of the baseball facility that now bears Weaver’s name. Located just beyond the left foul pole at English Field, it has four batting cages enclosed by netting that can be raised to expose an area that is nearly the size of a normal infield, allowing for fielding and throwing drills as well as hitting. The facility also includes three instructional video labs.
“To be able to train and develop our student-athletes in a facility named in honor of Jim Weaver is an absolute honor and privilege for our coaching staff and players,” Tech head baseball coach Patrick Mason said. “The James C. Weaver Baseball Center is the best indoor facility in the ACC, and it is only fitting that it will now, forever, be named for the man who helped build it.”
Virginia Tech baseball’s hitting facility has been renamed in honor of the university’s former athletics director Jim Weaver, whose tenure from 1997-2013 saw tremendous development in the national profile of the university’s athletic programs.
Completed in 2009, the more than 8,000-square-foot facility (please see rendering attached) is one of multiple athletics buildings that were constructed or expanded during Weaver’s time at Virginia Tech, during which the university joined the BIG EAST Conference and later the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Weaver, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004, died in July 2015 at age 70. A 1967 graduate of Penn State, he played football for Joe Paterno. Before coming to Virginia Tech, Weaver served as athletics director at Western Michigan University and at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
During his time at Virginia Tech, the Department of Athletics committed more than $220 million toward facilities, including the building Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in May 2014. He was presented the John L. Toner Award by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame in 2009 in recognition of his administrative abilities and dedication to college sports, particularly football.
That same year saw the opening of the baseball facility that now bears Weaver’s name. Located just beyond the left foul pole at English Field, it has four batting cages enclosed by netting that can be raised to expose an area that is nearly the size of a normal infield, allowing for fielding and throwing drills as well as hitting. The facility also includes three instructional video labs.
“To be able to train and develop our student-athletes in a facility named in honor of Jim Weaver is an absolute honor and privilege for our coaching staff and players,” Tech head baseball coach Patrick Mason said. “The James C. Weaver Baseball Center is the best indoor facility in the ACC, and it is only fitting that it will now, forever, be named for the man who helped build it.”
