Stadium rededicated to Lubbers Saturday

Laker football fans will see the renovations at Lubbers Stadium Saturday when the Lakers host Notre Dame (Ohio), beginning at 7 p.m.

Improvements include adding a turf field and 2,000 more seats, increasing the stadium’s capacity to around 10,700. Fans are encouraged to wear black for the “Black Out.”

Also Saturday, the stadium will be rededicated to President Emeritus Arend D. Lubbers. Lubbers played a major role in advancing Grand Valley athletics during his time as president from 1969-2001.

President Thomas J. Haas will read a resolution honoring Lubbers. A portion of it reads, “This most visionary of academic leaders, Arend D. Lubbers, is also a football fan. In building our campus and strengthening its student life, he saw a missing ingredient. Football, he believed, was ‘something to build your weekend around.’ It could serve to keep students here and bring visitors to campus.”

In 1973, Lubbers Stadium hosted its first home victory before a then-record crowd of 2,300. In recent years, football crowds have swelled to 16,000.

Fans can show appreciation for Lubbers and his efforts that helped to make the Laker athletics program what it is today by making a gift to the Don Lubbers Excellence in Athletics Facilities Fund. Visit www.donlubbersfund.com for more details.