UA football center to be named after Fred W. Smith

On Thursday, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees Building and Grounds committee unanimously recommended naming the football center currently being constructed on the Fayetteville campus as the Fred W. Smith Football Center.

The full Board of Trustees will formally vote on the committee’s recommendation on Friday.

According to a UA statement, Smith has played an instrumental role in the success of the University of Arkansas and Razorback Athletics and now the chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

The 80,000 square-foot Fred W. Smith Football Center is scheduled to open in the summer of 2013. The facility, being constructed south of Donald W. Reynolds Stadium, will serve as the home of Razorback Football.

In October 2010, under Smith’s leadership, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation issued a lead $10 million challenge grant to help raise funds for the Football Center. This challenge was met in August 2011, paving the way for construction of the football center.

“Fred Smith has meant so much to our student-athletes, our athletic program, university and state through his leadership of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and his personal philanthropy to Razorback Athletics,” Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said in a statement. “The admiration and respect Fred enjoys throughout our state was once again demonstrated when several of his peers stepped forward in a major way when they learned of our desire to honor him with the naming of the football center. There is no more fitting way to recognize Fred’s generosity and the Smiths’ love of the Razorbacks than to place his name on our newest and most essential football facility for our student-athletes and coaches.”

The Fred W. Smith Football Center will include a new locker room, team meeting rooms, training room, equipment room, a student-athlete lounge and study area, coaches’ offices, a recruiting reception area and football displays celebrating the tradition of Razorback Football.

Last fall as part of the football center project, two new practice fields and a parking deck were completed south of the Walker Family Training Center providing the football team with spectacular new practice venues and university faculty and students with approximately 225 covered parking spaces.

Born in Arkoma, Oklahoma, Smith worked in advertising and media with Donrey Media Group before being named chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in Las Vegas. During his 43 year career at Donrey Media Group, Smith worked his way through the ranks to become president and COO and CEO of one of the nation’s largest privately held media companies.

Through his work with the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Smith also helped secure several multi-million dollar gifts for UA facilities including the Steven L. Anderson Design Center within the Fay Jones School of Architecture; the Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development in the Sam M. Walton College of Business; and the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium expansion, Student-Athlete Success Center and the student-athlete Development program, within Razorback Athletics.