Western Washington University’s Wade King Student Recreation Center

Western Washington University’s new recreation center was named the Wade King Student Recreation Center. Frank and Mary King, Wade’s parents, provided a substantial gift to WWU for athletic scholarships and to operate the new recreation facility. The gift was a way for the Kings to “best act to support young people in this community and honor the memory of our son.”

“To Wade, sports was life,” wrote the Kings, describing the gift and the naming of the recreation center. “Had he lived and became a student at Western, you would have found him often on its playfields and in the student recreation center.”

“We want to help the memory of Wade live on by supporting scholarships for young people who are the kind of person Wade would have become.”

The Western board of trustees voted unanimously to name the center for Wade and accept the generous gift. It’s the largest private gift Western has ever received. The Kings pledged $125,000 annually and a $2.5 million bequest. The total gift could be worth well over $4 million.

In April of 2007, Western’s Wade King Student Recreation Center was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC,) recognizing its advanced achievements in sustainability. This certification is the first in the nation for a university recreation center with a pool. Student interest and pressure led the university to seek LEED certification for the recreation center. The project was funded by students and the local community rather than taxpayer funds. “The LEED recognition for our recreation center is unusual. It is another example of the University’s continuing commitment to and national leadership with issues of sustainability,” said Western President Karen W. Morse.