UCCS will name an under-development sports medicine and performance center in honor of a noted local philanthropic, amateur sports and diplomatic leader.
The UCCS Sports Medicine and Performance Center, an element of the Colorado Springs City for Champions project, will be named the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center. The naming reflects the longtime support of El Pomar Foundation as well as its specific support for the university’s efforts to redevelop North Nevada Avenue, where the new building will be located. Hybl is El Pomar’s chairman and chief executive officer as well as chairman of the United States Olympic Endowment.
“El Pomar Foundation and Bill Hybl have been ardent supporters of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs,” Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said. “We are honored to recognize this support and Mr. Hybl’s legendary contributions to amateur athletes by naming our newest building in Mr. Hybl’s honor.”
In 2014, El Pomar donated $4 million in support of UCCS efforts to redevelop North Nevada Avenue on the western edge of the campus. In recognition of that donation, as well as previous support for UCCS from El Pomar Foundation, university officials opted to name the 72,000 square foot sports medicine and performance center in Hybl’s honor. The William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center will be adjacent to the existing 52,000-square-foot Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences. Plans call for the eventual construction of a six-building health and wellness village.
Substantial construction of the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center will begin by July 2018 and be completed by December 2019. No renderings or final cost estimates are currently available. The center will include human performance testing, training, research and education, medical-based fitness, athletic training, physical therapy, an orthopedic anchor, sports medicine-focused primary care, continuing education, research, and educational offerings, as well as three interdisciplinary centers of distinction. The center will support the Colorado Springs sports and active lifestyle culture and attract visitors to the area. In June 2016, UCCS and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services announced a collaboration to operate the sports medicine and performance center. In 2014, the project was approved as part of the Colorado Springs City for Champions project which includes a downtown Olympic museum and adjacent sports and events arena as well as a visitor center at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
William Hybl said:
“UCCS, with the leadership of Chancellor Shockley-Zalabak, is helping to shape our community in a powerful way. This direction is in line with the spirit of excellence and grand vision for Colorado Springs that generations of leaders have followed.
UCCS enhanced its evolution toward becoming a world-class campus in 2014 with the opening of the Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences which empowers people to live healthier lives. That legacy grew in 2015 when UCCS broke ground on the Ent Center which will be a significant hub for the arts in southern Colorado. And now, they will build the Sports Medicine and Performance Center with the intent to become a nationally recognized sports medicine, clinical research, and education facility for America’s elite athletes.
The impressive leaders at UCCS, and a wide range of other community leaders, continue to work together in a powerful way to significantly enhance the stature of Colorado Springs. I am honored to represent the Trustees of El Pomar Foundation in this effort.”
In addition to serving as El Pomar Foundation’s chairman and CEO, William Hybl is civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army (Senior). He also currently serves as vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on Public Diplomacy, having previously served as its chairman. He is also chairman of the U.S. Olympic Endowment, serving as president during four Olympic Games. Previously, he was the U.S. Representative to the 56th General Assembly of the United Nations and chairman of the Board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. He was named Citizen of the West by the National Western Stock Show of Denver in 2003 and served in the Colorado House of Representatives and as special counsel to President Ronald Reagan. He is a graduate of Colorado College and the University of Colorado School of Law.
Previous El Pomar Foundation support of UCCS includes El Pomar Center which bears the university’s signature clock tower, as well as three endowed professorships supporting innovation and commercialization of university technology.
— Photos by Tom Kimmell
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