Ouachita Campaign To Bring ‘Cliff Harris Stadium’

Ouachita Baptist President Rex Horne announced during a board trustees meeting this week, plans for a “100-Yard Campaign” to raise funds to construct Cliff Harris Stadium.

Harris, an All-Conference and All-America safety for the Tigers in the 1960s and All-Pro safety for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s, played in six Pro Bowls and five Super Bowls for the Cowboys. A major donor has provided a lead gift as a matching challenge for the project, with additional funds being solicited over the next 120 days through the “100-Yard Campaign.”

The stadium upgrade, projected to be completed for the 2014 football season, will include updated stadium seating, press box, parking lot and related improvements.

“This is a great opportunity for us,” Dr. Horne said. “We must seize it. We must get it done.”

We will update this post as more information is available.

Click here to watch a video of Dr. Horne discussing the stadium project.

Below is an artist’s rendering of the new Cliff Harris Stadium.

Other constructions projects discussed by the board were the naming and remodeling of the Rosemary Adams Department of Visual Arts and fundraising efforts to construct a new facility for the Elrod Center.

Primary renovation priorities related to the Department of Visual Arts include constructing a new front façade and entrance to Moses-Provine Hall which houses the visual arts program; creating gallery spaces to display artists’ works; renovating classroom, studio and office space; and adding an elevator and additional restrooms to the facility. Rosemary Adams, who provided a generous gift to fund the visual arts project, is a 1963 Ouachita graduate with a major in art.

Plans to construct a new $1.05 million facility for the Elrod Center for Family & Community include a $210,000 challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation. Ouachita officials will finalize plans to move forward with construction once fundraising for the project is complete.

The Elrod Center is named in honor of Dr. Ben Elrod who served from 1988 to 1998 as Ouachita’s 13thpresident. According to its mission statement, the Elrod Center focuses on “initiating, encouraging, coordinating and facilitating public service, volunteerism, service learning, servant leadership and community engagement.”