New Bethune-Cookman athletic center taking shape

 LARRY R. HANDFIELD ATHLETIC TRAINING CENTER
Courtesy William Chapin, FAIA Architect

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- If you've driven past the intersection of International Speedway Boulevard and Lincoln Street recently, the three-story blue building on the corner -- now being covered in bricks -- may have caused you to do a double take. Bethune-Cookman University is convinced that same facility -- the school's new football complex -- will have a similar effect on prospective athletes.

The $4.6 million Larry R. Handfield Athletic Training Center -- which the Wildcats' football coach is calling one of the best in the nation at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level -- is scheduled to be ready for use by mid-May, B-CU athletic director Lynn Thompson said.

"This will elevate us," Thompson said. "Recruits can see the building going up rapidly. It's an exciting time."

Head coach Brian Jenkins, who has turned around the B-CU football program in his first two years, said recruits are "nearly shocked, when they go see (the facility)." "It really puts a major impression not only on the recruits, but their families," he said.

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ABOUT THE FACILITY:

LARRY R. HANDFIELD ATHLETIC TRAINING CENTER
Courtesy William Chapin, FAIA Architect

SLIDESHOW
(To view Slide Show: click Slideshow; Current; and Handfield to view Photo Album @ Wm. Chapin site).

Bethune-Cookman University's new athletic training center will house a diverse menu of sports facilities. Included will be strength and conditioning facilities, sports medicine facilities, a football coaching headquarters, and a dramatic 3-story Hall of Fame. These facilities will be located in two main buildings which are connected by a gallery of sports, celebrating achievements by the best of Bethune-Cookman’s athletes over the 100 year history of the University. The buildings will be across from the University’s main campus, and has been designed to mirror the distinctive look of the Bethune Performing Arts Theatre, in order to broadcast the presence of the University to the other side of Daytona’s most-travelled avenue. Completion is scheduled for May 2012.

The building is named in honor of Dr. Larry R. Handfield, Esq., current chairman of the B-CU Board of Trustees and the first B-CU alumnus to hold this position. He is a Miami-based attorney who is a longtime donor and supporter of B-CU and a past recipient of an honorary doctorate degree. The majority of funds for this facility were raised by B-CU alumni, who participated in a “chapter challenge” fundraising campaign organized by the University’s regional alumni chapters.

Courtesy Bethune Cookman University