University of Michigan swimmer and team tri-captain Peter Vanderkaay (’06) was named the 2006 Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year. A five-time NCAA national champion and 16-time All-American, Vanderkaay repeated as the 500-yard freestyle NCAA champion and earned four All-America honors in 2006. In winning the 500, he broke an 11-year-old NCAA, American and U.S. Open record, previously held by U-M’s Tom Dolan. Vanderkaay is the seventh U-M student athlete to be named the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year and is the third U-M swimmer, joining a pair of fellow Olympic gold medalists Mike Barrowman (’92) and Tom Dolan (’97). Both are members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
In November 2005, Stephen M. Ross (BBA ’62) joined in cutting a maize and blue ribbon at the entrance of the new Stephen M. Ross Academic Center. Ross and his wife, Kara, provided a $5 million gift toward the $12 million, 38,000-square-foot building that provides individual and group study areas, computer labs, meeting rooms and tutorial areas for student-athletes and other U-M students.
The new Champions Event Center was renamed the Junge Family Champions Center to honor the $2 million gift the family has committed to the $4.5 million state-of-the-art facility. Opened in November 2005, the 11,000-square foot center is primarily used as a gathering point for prospective student-athletes on game days.
Both U-M’s baseball and softball stadiums will be getting new grandstand seating, including barrier-free areas, expanded restrooms, indoor hitting facilities, and concession and press areas as part of the renovation plans for Alumni Field, the Donald R. Shepherd Softball Building, and the Ray Fisher Baseball Stadium. The budget for the Alumni Field renovation is $5.5 million and the estimated cost of the Ray Fisher Stadium renovations and addition is $9 million.
Former University of Michigan football player and current Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards (’04) made history in April 2006 by creating a $500,000 scholarship endowment for the Athletic Department—the largest gift pledged by a current professional athlete. The scholarship will be awarded to the player who wears the No. 1 jersey. If no one currently wears that number, it will be granted to a team member who exhibits exceptional off-field behavior.
Two former Wolverines ice hockey players competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Mike Knuble (’98) skated for Team USA, while Marty Turco (’98) laced up his skates for Team Canada. Knuble is currently a right wing for the Philadelphia Flyers. He is tied for seventh on Michigan’s career goals list with 103. Turco, a goalie for the Dallas Stars, helped lead Michigan to national championships in 1996 and 1998 and won 127 games in his college career, an NCAA record.