Gift Creates First Endowed Coach at Oregon State University

CORVALLIS -- Through the generous gift from Vancouver, Wash., residents Lee and Connie Kearney, Oregon State Athletics has established its first endowed coaching position.

Half of a recent $6 million gift from the Kearneys is in honor of former Beaver baseball coach Pat Casey, and will create a permanent source of funding for Beaver Baseball. Casey was the head coach for 24 years, amassed 900 victories, and led the Beavers to three College World Series titles.

"We are incredibly thankful to Lee and Connie for this extraordinary commitment to our baseball program," said Scott Barnes, OSU vice president and director of athletics. "Thanks to this endowment, we are able to continue to invest in our program at an elite national level, while also honoring a Beaver legend."

Barnes announced OSU alumnus Mitch Canham as Casey's permanent replacement in June. Canham was the starting catcher for Casey on the 2006 and 2007 College World Series championship teams. He is the inaugural endowed Pat Casey Head Baseball Coach.

"It's an incredible honor to be associated with Coach Casey and the Kearneys," Canham said. "The life lessons I learned at Oregon State University through educational opportunities and the leadership of Coach Casey have created a road map for my life. I'm forever indebted to OSU."

The Kearneys have served on boards for the College of Engineering, OSU Athletics, the OSU Foundation and Oregon 4-H. In addition to gifts supporting OSU faculty, they have invested in several university facilities in Corvallis, as well as the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend. In honor of their leadership gift to the project, the renovated home of OSU's School of Civil and Construction Engineering was renamed Kearney Hall in 2009.

OSU Athletics plays an important role in university life, the Kearneys said: "It opens the door for people to get to campus, see what's going on, enjoy themselves and think about what they can do to enhance the university."

Every year a percentage of earnings from the Pat Casey Head Baseball Coach endowment will be paid out to benefit the Beaver Baseball program. Endowment income can be used annually for various important programmatic benefits, including head coach compensation and retention, operating budget enhancements, and to meet other needs that will help maintain the competitive success of the team.

With the other half of their $6 million gift, the Kearneys have created an endowed deanship in OSU's College of Engineering.

Lee Kearney, a retired director and division manager of Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., earned his degree in civil engineering from OSU in 1963. As a member of the class of 1965, Connie Kearney started her studies at Oregon State on her way to a career in law.

Gift Creates First Endowed Coach at Oregon State University

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