The College of William and Mary received a $23.9 million gift — one of the largest gifts the university has received in its 320-year history — from the estate of Walter J. Zable.
The gift will be broken down into segments: $10 million will go toward scholarships for student athletes and $10 million toward future renovations at Zable Stadium, which was built in 1935 and is in need of repair. University officials are looking for the best way to use the remaining $3.9 million.
Zable, who graduated in 1937 with a degree in physics, turned down a scholarship offer from Harvard to attend William and Mary, where he received an honorable mention All-American in football while also lettering in baseball, basketball and track. He met his wife, Betty Virginia Carter Zable, during his time at the college.
After graduation, Zable moved to California. He started a business called Cubic in his garage that focused on microwave technology. Cubic went on to develop technology systems for military training and transportation services and has a presence in about 60 countries with 8,000 workers worldwide.
Throughout the course of their lives, Zable and his wife, Betty, gave an additional $5.5 million in gifts to the university. In 1990, the Zables pledged $10 million of their estate to the creation of the Walter J. and Betty Carter Zable Scholarship Endowment. Zable died in June 2012 at the age of 97.
“This gift will allow us to underwrite the cost of education for our student athletes and continue that support in perpetuity,” Director of Athletics Terry Driscoll said in a news release. “It also provides a very good start to the private fundraising needed to renovate the beautiful but aging Zable Stadium.”
The university has yet to determine a budget or scope for renovations to the stadium, though a request for proposal for architects to submit design ideas was issued in January. The feasibility of the project depends on private funds since state funds can’t be used for athletic facilities.
