Roots for the Home Team

As a student, Michael Kaminsky 89C played intramural baseball, football, and basketball, and served as sports chairman of his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, which won the “all-row” title his senior year.

Now managing director at investment firm Neuberger Berman in New York City, Kaminsky gave $1 million to improve athletic fields and facilities and establish an endowment for the intramural program.

“It’s meaningful to me that I’m helping improve Campus Life at Emory,” said Kaminsky.

Given in collaboration with Marla Whitman Kaminsky 89C, the gift honors his brother-in-law, Todd Whitman, a member of the Emory Class of 1993 who died during his senior year; and Harris Silver 89C, a close friend who died in 2003.

The facilities portion of the gift has been used to expand the parking area, improve the safety and look of the fields, and add a club and intramural sports fieldhouse, while the endowment portion ensures that intramural sports will continue to thrive.

Other private gifts made during Campaign Emory benefitted student-athletes, both on varsity teams and in intramural sports. Alumni and friends helped build a new grandstand at the Woodruff P. E. Center outdoor tennis courts, for example, expanding seating capacity to two hundred spectators and building a pavilion and champagne tables overlooking the courts. In addition to expanding Emory’s ability to host conference and NCAA championships, this showcase facility helps Emory attract members of the regional, national, and international tennis community.

A new endowment for the swimming and diving team comes from Charles Barron 45C 46D, and an anonymous parent has established an endowment for the women’s soccer team.

Several alumni, including Deborah Jackson 85C, created an endowment to name the Department of Athletics and Recreation director’s position in honor of Clyde “Doc” Partin Sr. 50C 51G. An Emory icon for more than fifty years, Partin was a teacher, coach, athletics director, and historian.

Fittingly, Partin’s family has donated his papers to Emory’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL). The gift includes Partin’s essays on baseball Hall of Famers, posters, documents, signed baseballs, and a large collection of books about African American athletes.

The archive is a tribute to Partin’s life and work, says his son, Emory physician Clyde Partin Jr. 78C 83M 86MR.