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Muscatine couple establishes scholarship for Iowa women's basketball
Posted February 1, 2002
IOWA CITY -- A $125,000 gift to the University of Iowa Foundation from Micheal and Patricia Beal of Muscatine, Iowa, will annually provide the UI women's basketball team with a named scholarship for an athletically talented and academically promising Iowa Hawkeye student-athlete. The first Micheal and Patricia Beal Women's Basketball Scholarship has been awarded this season to freshman guard Jenna Armstrong of Stockton, Mo. Micheal Beal said the gift was motivated by a desire to help the UI women's basketball program reach its potential for national prominence, while also helping to provide a quality education to a deserving young person. "We've dreamed for years about making this gift. It's a way for us to give to two things in which we strongly believe-education and athletics," Micheal Beal said. Patricia Beal expressed the couple's hope that their gift might inspire others to lend their financial support to the UI athletics program. "We're just a couple of longtime Hawkeye fans who want to see the program succeed and provide an opportunity for these young women to grow and learn. Hopefully, other Hawkeye fans can help out, too," Patricia Beal said. Micheal Beal works in the Multipurpose Maintenance Department of the Monsanto Company's Muscatine plant. Patricia Beal works for Scott's Outdoors in Muscatine. The two have been attending UI athletics events for almost 25 years and have been loyal and consistent supporters of the Iowa Hawkeyes. They are members of the Presidents Club of the University of Iowa, which recognizes the UI's most generous contributors. The Beal scholarship is the fourth full-ride UI women's basketball scholarship to be fully endowed and named. The National Collegiate Athletics Association allows the women's basketball program a total of 15 scholarships. The UI Foundation's ongoing Hawkeye Visions Endowment Program has as its goal the full endowment of all such scholarships in all UI sports programs, which frees up athletics department resources to be used for equipment, recruiting, facilities improvements and other expenses. UI Director of Athletics Robert A. Bowlsby hailed the Beals' generosity as "essential to building a powerhouse program." "Micheal and Pat have been good friends of the Hawkeyes for many years. Their dedication and commitment to the student-athletes who work so hard has been extraordinary. This gift helps ensure that the Hawkeyes will be able to compete at the highest level for many years to come," Bowlsby said. The Beals' gift is part of the university's planned comprehensive campaign to advance the UI's strategic goals for the years 2000-2005. The campaign, which is in its early stages and for which no final dollar goal has been established, will be conducted under the guidance of the UI Foundation and will raise funds to substantially increase the number of UI scholarships and endowed faculty chairs and professorships; to fund outreach and service programs to benefit individuals, families and communities throughout the state of Iowa; to support new educational and research facilities; to build the UI's endowment; and to launch new initiatives in the arts, sciences, business, health care and other fields. The UI Foundation is the preferred channel for private contributions to all areas of the university. Contact Information
Andy Piro Additional information about supporting Hawkeye Intercollegiate Athletics also is available on this site. |