Anyone who comes to watch a sporting event at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium will now experience the new $200,000 LED scoreboard that was installed recently. The new scoreboard was made possible through a donation of an SRU alumnus.
Chuck Sanders funded most of the cost of the new scoreboard for the university.
Sanders graduated from SRU in 1986 with a bachelor of science in business management. While at SRU, Sanders played football from 1982-85 and was inducted into the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. After graduation, he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Sanders is currently the CEO of Urban Lending Solutions and the owner of Pittsburgh restaurant, Savoy.
Sanders said as an SRU alumnus, he has come to appreciate the university more.
“[Donating the scoreboard] was something that I could do to show the appreciation of the role that SRU played in my life,” he said.
Sanders made the donation over the summer and the installation of the board happened within past weeks.
“Hopefully, it can be an inspiration to work hard and to show that when you get older, you get to put your name on stuff,” Sanders said.
According to Paul Leuken, director of athletics at SRU, Sanders has always given back to the university and is a very successful man.
“He’s a great guy. He really is,” Leuken said.
The new scoreboard is 20 foot by 37 foot and is nine feet taller and four feet wider than the previous scoreboard. The previous scoreboard had been in use since 2003.
The center of the scoreboard features a 12 foot by 20 foot video board in the middle that will be used for billboards and advertisements. Leuken hopes that after the athletic department becomes more comfortable with the new technology, that an instant replay feature will be utilized. Leuken said the scoreboard needs to be interactive for the audience.
“It will all come together,” Leuken said.
The scoreboard is a custom design by Electro-Mech and was installed by Nova Sign, which is the same company that installed world’s largest scoreboard at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
The scoreboard will be used to keep score for any sport that is played at the stadium, which includes football, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, field hockey, women’s track & field, men’s track & field and women’s lacrosse. The scoreboard will be in use for the first football game on Saturday, Sept. 12.
“[The scoreboard] has a lot of capability and is a good learning experience for the students involved with it,” Leuken said.
