The Kennedy Center is Augsburg's newest athletic facility. Completed in 2006, the facility is an addition on the south side of Si Melby Hall, and features a wrestling training facility, fitness center, classrooms, meeting space and offices for the Athletic and Health and Physical Education departments.

The Kennedy Center was built as part of the college's Access to Excellence campaign in the summer of 2006. Lead donations for the $5 million project came from a $2 million donation from the building's namesakes, Dean '75 and Terry Kennedy, and in a $1 million donation from Alan Rice.

Dean Kennedy, an independent businessman, was an All-American wrestler at Augsburg and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Kennedy was the first four-time All-Lutheran Tournament champion in the event's history, and was a co-captain of an NAIA national runner-up Augsburg squad. He claimed Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles twice and was named MIAC Tournament Most Valuable Wrestler honors twice.

Alan Rice, a National Wrestling Hall of Fame member and Minnesota native, gave his $1 million gift in memory of his wife, Gloria, who passed away in 2001. Rice has spent a lifetime involved in competing, coaching and promoting amateur wrestling. He was a two-time high school state champion, two-time Big Ten champion and an All-American at Minnesota, and competed for more than a decade at the Olympic level. He coached the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Alan and Gloria formed the Minnesota Amateur Wrestling Club in 1966, which has become one of the most prominent in the country in developing Olympic-level wrestlers.