Opening of Sutton Sports Performance Center / Shah Basketball Complex Marks Historic Moment in Wake Forest Athletics

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest University Alum ('80, JD '83), Board Member and Generous Donor Ben Sutton cut the ceremonial ribbon on the four-level, 87,000 square foot Sports Performance Center bearing his name surrounded by family, friends, fans and an overwhelmingly appreciative Athletics staff on Sept. 13, 2019.

Just minutes before he cut the ribbon, Sutton made a memorable proclamation.

"We're coming into a golden age of Wake Forest Athletics," Sutton said to the crowd during a discussion with fellow alum (1991) and generous donor Mit Shah and Wake Forest Director of Athletics, John Currie.

"I honestly look at the next five years and I believe it's going to be like a rocket ship," Sutton said that Friday afternoon.

The Sutton Sports Performance Center was a project 10 years in the making. Sutton, Bob McCreary and former Wake Forest Athletic Director Ron Wellman ventured across the country, examining facilities at Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama to examine what was needed to ensure the facility matched or surpassed anyone else in the country.

Wake Forest's commitment to academic excellence has always been evident, as Sutton experienced first hand.

"For years you walk on this campus and know that we care about building leadership and character, and test you with great academic rigor," he said at the time. "This is the most beautiful college campus in America, bar none. We really have to show we have a commitment to not just having a program, but to competing and winning. We're in the perfect league to do this."

For Sutton, it seemed like giving the Wake Forest football program the commitment in terms of facilities could be the final ingredient to unlocking its potential in the ACC.

"We're very lucky and fortunate for all the people who have been so generous to support those projects," Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said back in Sept. 2019. "What a difference it's made in our program. Our players have always got a world-class educational experience at Wake Forest. Now they're able to have a world-class athletic experience. I've always said that facilities reflect commitment."

Clawson said the new Sutton Sports Performance Center and McCreary Field House clearly show football is important to Wake Forest.

"When you look at our business school and our libraries, there's no question that those things are really important at Wake," he said following the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "Now we have the facilities commitment that says what we do here is important and it matters. It's reflected in recruiting. We have jaw-dropping facilities."

Those feelings were echoed by new men's basketball coach Steve Forbes at this introductory press conference on May 1.

"When our staff first went into the Shah Basketball Complex upon being hired, it was extremely exciting," Forbes said with a smile on his face. "It was my first time ever to be on campus here and it was just extremely exhilarating and impressive."

The ribbon cutting ceremony was quite a special moment for Sutton, who was able to share the experience with his 88-year old father Ben Sr., and 82-year old mother, Minnie.

"They were puffed up like peacocks out there," he said upon seeing them at the ceremony. "That really made it worthwhile.

"I came to Wake Forest in 1976 from a little rural town in North Carolina called Murfreesboro. This was the biggest town I'd ever been, Winston-Salem. There were twice as many people on this campus as lived in the town I grew up."

The Wake Forest experience completely changed Sutton's life.

"I learned about character, leadership, teamwork, collaboration and individualism," he said. "It was a place that really formed what ended up being great in the rest of my life.

"To be able to come back and pay some of that back. There's still so much more we need to do. We've done a lot of great things, but today's ceiling is tomorrow's floor. I'm already thinking about what is next."

The four-level, 87,000 square foot facility provides strength and conditioning facilities for all of Wake Forest's student-athletes. Preliminary site work began in October 2017 and was completed in September, 2019. The facility connects to McCreary Field House and the Miller Center. The Sutton Sports Performance Center provides more than 10,000 square feet of dedicated strength and conditioning equipment for football. There is also space for strength and conditioning equipment for men's and women's Olympic sports.

The third floor of the Sutton Sports Performance Center includes 17,000 square feet of meeting rooms, coaches offices and a heritage area for the men's and women's basketball program. The fourth floor has over 18,000 square feet for football coaches offices, team meeting rooms and a heritage area. Over 1,500 square feet comprises a customized nutrition center. The Shah Basketball Complex includes 24,400 square feet that allows both the men's and women's basketball programs to have dedicated practice areas. The project features the addition of a regulation court that allows both programs to have interconnected practice areas featuring two practice courts and a total of 13 baskets.

Seeing the space for the first time exceeded Sutton and Shah's expectations.

"I believe the unbelievable. It's even more than I had in my mind's eye," Sutton said upon seeing it for the first time. "It was a joy to work with Coach Clawson, Ron (Wellman), and our architects and builders."

Wake Forest Athletics

Opening of Sutton Sports Performance Center / Shah Basketball Complex Marks Historic Moment in Wake Forest Athletics

Related News

Related Videos