Hunter Smith’s love for a marching band knows no end. In keeping with tradition, Mrs. Smith, wife of the late Carl W. Smith, has pledged $10.7 million for the construction of a “rehearsal hall” for the University marching band and music programs.
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Hunter Smith and her late husband Carl helped create the marching band with a $1.5 million gift that got it off the ground (and sent the Pep Band to performance purgatory). |
“One of Carl’s and my favorite things was being a part of helping to create the marching band,” she said, according to a UVA press release. “We were so pleased at the fantastic job the University did in getting the band up and running—including the hiring of band director Bill Pease, in designing the uniforms and in recruiting top-notch students. It all happened so quickly and so well.”
This isn’t the first time that Smith has showered green on the marching band. In 2003, the Smiths donated $1.5 million to spark the formation of the Cavalier Marching Band, effectively driving the Pep Band into obscurity. At the halftime performance of the 2002 Tire Bowl between the Cavaliers and West Virginia, the Pep Band spoofed the “The Bachelor,” depicting a female West Virginia student in pigtails and overalls; UVA President John Casteen ended up apologizing to then West Virginia Governor Bob Wise after he threw a hissy fit.
The Smiths’ deep pockets aided the University in many areas. In 1997, they gave $23 million for the expansion of Scott Stadium, enough money to get the area comprising the stadium and the aquatic center renamed the Carl Smith Center. They also pledged $22 million for the creation of an arts center planned for the corner of Emmet Street and Ivy Road on the site of the Cavalier Inn, and $200,000 for the Cavalier Marching Band Scholarship.
Yet the arts center donation never materialized. The original plans called for a 1,600-seat theater, but those plans were altered after delays. As UVA spokesperson Carol Wood explained, the $22 million donation was contingent upon the beginning of construction in 2005. The theater was pushed back to a later phase, while an art museum and a residential college would be erected in Phase I. That project has still not gone to bid.
The new 12,900-square-foot rehearsal hall, which Smith calls a “wonderful, light-filled space,” is slated to be completed in the summer 2011 and will sit across from Ruffin Hall. The hall also includes a 4,000-square-foot rehearsal room, several offices, a library and storage area for the band’s instruments and uniforms.
And if these donations weren’t enough, the Smiths also contributed at least $11.5 million to the UVA College at Wise, including $3 milion for the football team and $1.2 million for (you guessed it) a marching band.
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