{"id":12431,"date":"2023-03-15T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=12431"},"modified":"2023-03-15T20:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T20:00:56","slug":"renovated-athletics-facilities-dedicated-to-beloved-auggies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2023\/03\/15\/renovated-athletics-facilities-dedicated-to-beloved-auggies\/","title":{"rendered":"Renovated athletics facilities dedicated to beloved Auggies"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Augsburg student-athletes gathered with alumni, family, and friends during Homecoming Weekend 2022 to tour renovated athletics facilities named after beloved Auggies.<\/p>\n

Members of Augsburg\u2019s first all-female Hall of Fame class were among the first to tour the renovated women\u2019s locker room in Si Melby Hall, which was dedicated to fellow Hall of Famer Patricia Piepenburg \u201969<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This meaningful dedication happened 50 years after the passage of Title IX<\/a>, the landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.<\/p>\n

Basketball guard Samaiya Buchanan \u201924<\/strong> said the renovation connects decades of trailblazing Auggies who continue to empower female student-athletes to break barriers and achieve their potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe renovation, particularly during this Title IX milestone, reminds our generation to keep setting the bar high and to not let society separate us or treat us unequally because we are women,\u201d said Buchanan, a junior business marketing and management major. \u201cWe need to keep exposing the differences between men\u2019s and women\u2019s sports and keep performing and perfecting our skills to show that we are just as dedicated and capable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weekend also featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Donny Wichmann Weight Room in the James Haglund Family Fitness and Recreation Center. Friends and family honored the legacy of former Augsburg wrestler and coach Donny Wichmann \u201989<\/strong><\/a>, who died in July 2019 after a battle with brain cancer.<\/p>\n

Visitors also toured the updated athletic training and sports medicine center and the Auggie women\u2019s soccer locker room, named in honor of the late Claudia Murray \u201924<\/strong>. Murray was a midfielder for Augsburg before she died in February 2022. In September, Murray\u2019s family, friends, and teammates gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to honor her.<\/p>\n

Augsburg Now captured photos of these meaningful ceremonies and state-of-the-art spaces in the Si Melby Hall\/Kennedy Center complex.<\/p>\n

\"\"Augsburg Homecoming 2022 kicked off with the Great Returns: We\u2019re All In<\/em> all-school reunion, during which more than 450 alumni, family, and friends gathered on campus to connect with each other as well as with students, faculty, and staff. During the event, the university launched Augsburg Gives<\/a>, its 2022 Give to the Max effort, and the Alumni Class Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"In September 2022, Shelly Gill Murray<\/b> and Brian Murray<\/b> cut a ribbon to officially open the Auggie women\u2019s soccer locker room, named in honor of their late daughter, Claudia Murray \u201924<\/b>. The sophomore psychology major was a midfielder for Augsburg and dreamed of becoming a child psychologist.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Auggie women\u2019s soccer team displays a virtual note to the Murray family in the James Haglund Family Fitness and Recreation Center, where the team\u2019s newly renovated locker room is located. A picture of Claudia Murray greets players as they enter the space named in her honor, which also features her framed No. 14 jersey.<\/p>\n

\"\"During Homecoming 2022, former Augsburg wrestler Kyle Wheaton \u201999<\/b> addresses a crowd gathered for the ribbon-cutting of the Donny Wichmann Weight Room in the James Haglund Family Fitness and Recreation Center. Wheaton honored the legacy of the late Donny Wichmann \u201989<\/b>, a former Augsburg wrestler and coach.<\/p>\n

\"\"Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow<\/b> looks on as former wrestler Donny Wichmann\u2019s wife, Mindy (Maddox) Wichmann<\/b>, cuts a ribbon with Augsburg Athletic Director Jeff Swenson \u201979<\/b> during the dedication of the Donny Wichmann Weight Room. Wichmann was a three-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion, a national tournament All-American, and a longtime assistant coach who was a part of 10 Augsburg NCAA Division III national championship teams.<\/p>\n

\"\"Augsburg Athletic Director Jeff Swenson embraces Mindy Wichmann after cutting the ribbon to open the weight room in honor of her late husband, Donny Wichmann. Augsburg inducted Donny into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Minnesota native was inducted posthumously into the 2019 National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame. In 2018, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame\u2019s Minnesota Chapter honored Donny with the Medal of Courage.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonny was always the hardest-working guy in the room, and I\u2019m just so proud of the legacy that he\u2019s left,\u201d Swenson said. \u201cWhen I came back to Augsburg after leaving for a few years, I needed him to say he would stay. It was always a special relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"During Homecoming 2022, Missy Strauch<\/b>, Augsburg athletics director of sports medicine and healthcare administrator, gives alumni, students, parents, and friends a tour of the athletic training and sports medicine center in the lower level of Si Melby Hall. A 2019 renovation of the space more than tripled the size of the previous training room.\u201cSeeing alumni circulating through the athletic venues was very heartwarming, and I received many hugs during the tours,\u201d Strauch said. \u201cThe Auggie athletic alumni continue to give back, and I see the current generation of Auggie student-athletes benefit from that support each day. This sense of support, family and community is what makes Augsburg University Athletics so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Missy Strauch, Augsburg athletics director of sports medicine, listens as alumni, students, and parents react to upgrades to the athletic training and sports medicine center. The new facility provides a spacious, state-of-the-art space for Augsburg\u2019s sports medicine staff\u2014a team of doctors, athletic trainers, nutritionists, chiropractors, physical therapists, and student assistants\u2014to serve the university\u2019s 22 intercollegiate varsity sports.\u201cThe renovation of the women\u2019s locker room and the remodel of the sports medicine center shows the athletes how dedicated this administration and athletic department really are to student athlete well-being,\u201d Strauch said. \u201cIt also shows how much we love to celebrate and honor our distinguished alumni in the naming of these special spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Jim Piepenburg \u201972<\/b> and Kris Domke<\/b>\u2014the brother and niece of Augsburg Hall of Famer Patricia Piepenburg \u201969\u2014cut the ribbon during the dedication of the Patricia Piepenburg Women\u2019s Locker Room during Homecoming 2022. The renovated locker room affords each of Augsburg\u2019s 12 women\u2019s teams their own year-round team room.<\/p>\n

\"\"A photo of Patricia Piepenburg greets visitors entering the locker room named after the trailblazing Auggie, who was a member of the fabled \u201cAuggiettes\u201d women\u2019s basketball team, which dominated local teams from the 1950s to the early \u201970s. Piepenburg, who was inducted into the Augsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011, graduated cum laude with a physical education degree before a 35-year career teaching and coaching basketball and track and field in Atwater, Minnesota. She died in February 2023, a few months after the locker room dedication, at age 75.<\/p>\n

\"\"Augsburg Women\u2019s Hockey Coach Michelle McAteer<\/b> speaks with guests during a Homecoming 2022 open house of the renovated women\u2019s locker room. Alumni spearheaded a campaign to raise $30,000 to outfit the room with audiovisual equipment, skate-resistant flooring, and custom hockey stalls and stick rack.<\/p>\n

McAteer said the open house was \u201cincredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAugsburg is the only school in the MIAC with two ice sheets on campus, but now, to have a locker room that is new and hockey-specific, takes the experience to another level for our student-athletes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had a good turnout of alums, parents, and supporters who contributed to the project. Their belief and investment in our program and commitment to making it better for the future is inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Alumni and friends walk the halls of the newly renovated Si Melby Hall\/Kennedy Center complex during Augsburg\u2019s all-school reunion in October 2022. The locker room\u2014now dedicated for female student-athletes\u2014was constructed in 1979 in what was formerly a dirt-floor batting cage known as \u201cthe pit.\u201d Prior to that time, women\u2019s teams used the men\u2019s visiting team locker room.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Augsburg student-athletes gathered with alumni, family, and friends during Homecoming Weekend 2022 to tour renovated athletics facilities named after beloved Auggies. Members of Augsburg\u2019s first all-female Hall of Fame class were among the first to tour the renovated women\u2019s locker room in Si Melby Hall, which was dedicated to fellow Hall of Famer Patricia Piepenburg <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":12660,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-12431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-featured-stories","tag-winter-2022-23"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12431"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12730,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431\/revisions\/12730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}