A nearly 80-year-old bond shell on the campus of Florida Southern College was demolished this week to make way for a state-of-the-art athletic facility that will include locker rooms, training facilities and new offices.
The L.N. The Pipkin Bandshell, built in 1943 and named for one of Florida Southern’s earliest trustees, served as a gathering place for students and members of the Lakeland community to enjoy music, theater and campus-oriented events. like jazz under the stars.
In its place, the school will build the Adams Athletic Performance Center, named after trustee Robert J. Adams and his wife, Ginny, of Lakeland.
The school broke ground Monday for the new facility, located next to the George W. Jenkins Fieldhouse and Ruel B. Gilbert Gymnasium, which now houses many of the campus’ athletic training rooms and offices. The building will have 16,000 square feet of additional space for the school’s Division II sports programs, which will impact more than 550 student-athletes on campus.
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The performance center will provide a 5,000-square-foot varsity weight room, a conference room overlooking Lake Hollingsworth, an academic center and a 40-person theater for film review. In addition, the facility will have office rooms for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse and a women’s lacrosse locker room.
“Bob and Ginny Adams have taken a leadership role with their transformative gift to the college in support of our athletic programs,” said Anne B. Kerr, FSC president. “With their son, Joel, and his wife Kelly, we can better support our student-athletes as they work towards their next national championship. FSC has 30 national championships and is excited to continue our tradition of winning by a scholar-athlete.”
The athletic center will be built by Rodda Construction of Lakeland, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2024.
“We are excited about the completion of the Adams Athletic Performance Center which will benefit all of our student-athletes here at Florida Southern College,” said Drew Howard, director of athletics and dean of wellness. “This state-of-the-art facility will give our current strength and conditioning coaches the ability to fully train our student-athletes so they can get the best results possible on the court, field or track. This facility will give our coaches another recruiting advantage. We are grateful to Robert and Ginny Adams for this wonderful gift to Florida Southern, and we can’t wait to immediately deploy our teams to continue building on Florida Southern’s legacy.”
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As a college trustee, Adams served on and chaired multiple committees, including the intercollegiate athletics committee. He was inducted into the Florida Southern College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. Along with his son, Joel, an FSC Distinguished Alumnus who graduated in 1993, Adams helped found Highland Homes in 1996, one of the area’s largest homebuilders.
“There is intense competition not only to attract athletes, but to keep them here,” Adams said shortly after the groundbreaking ceremony. “I am confident that this project will be a huge jewel in South Florida athletics in the future.”
Florida Southern last season was one of the top NCAA Division II athletic programs in the nation, accounting for 27 individual national championships. Overall, South Florida student-athletes have earned All-American status 1,038 times, as well as Academic All-America honors 92 times.
