UAPB gets $500,000 from Angel for complex

Photo: Torii Hunter donates half million dollars to build new UAPB baseball complex. Hunter did not attend UAPB or any other college.


PINE BLUFF, AR — Major league baseball player Torii Hunter committed $500,000 on Friday afternoon toward a proposed $9 million University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball complex, which will bear his name.

UAPB Athletic Director Skip Perkins said Hunter closed the deal Friday morning.

Perkins said the complex will be named the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex. The donation is the largest ever to the school’s athletics department from a single person, Perkins said.

“We are very, very grateful,” Perkins said. “We’re ready to rock and roll now. That was a huge component to our fundraising efforts.” Perkins said the fundraising committee will begin its drive next month, although he wasn’t certain exactly when.

Hunter, a Los Angeles Angels outfielder and a 1993 graduate of Pine Bluff High School, was traveling with the team Friday afternoon and unavailable for comment, said Larry Babcock, a spokesman for the Angels. A message left on Hunter’s cell phone Friday was not returned.

Hunter did not attend UAPB or any other college. He was a first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Twins straight out of high school. He played his first major-league game in 1997.

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