In the days leading up to Thursday’s grand opening, University of Virginia student-athletes and coaches received a sneak peek of the Harrison Family Olympic Sports Center on the Ramon W. Breeden Athletic Grounds.
UVA’s Director of Athletics Carla Williams marveled at their reactions to the dazzling new 95,000-square-foot building on Massie Road.
The expressions of joy, excitement and immense gratitude, Williams said, were a “reminder of why we are here. We are here to serve student-athletes to serve this great University.
“And the Harrison Center is a testament to that effort, that work and that excellence,” she said.
UVA interim President Paul Mahoney greets Frank and Peggy Quayle before Thursday’s ceremony. The lobby of the Harrison Center bears the name of Frank, a star football and lacrosse player for the Cavaliers in the 1960s. In June, the Quayle family announced a $5 million planned gift to Virginia Athletics.
The UVA Board of Visitors counted among the large crowd attending Thursday’s ceremony, which also included interim President Paul Mahoney and representatives from a variety of Virginia Athletics programs.
Mahoney was among a long list of speakers at the program who praised the loyalty of the Harrison family, the longtime generous benefactors to the University who powered the project with a $25 million lead gift.
“Mrs. Majorie Harrison Webb, I don’t know you, but I already love you,” UVA women’s soccer coach Steve Swanson said to the president of the Harrison Foundation, who was seated in the front row.
The Harrison Center will host, in some fashion, UVA’s field hockey, cross country, track and field, lacrosse, soccer, rowing and tennis programs.
UVA junior field hockey player Mia Abello speaks on behalf of the student-athletes moving into the Harrison Center. “The Harrison Center is not simply an opportunity for us to reach new limits, but even more than that, it’s a challenge,” she said. “A challenge to show up every day and give relentless effort, a challenge to bounce back with confidence, a challenge to represent UVA with honor on the field and beyond. And most importantly, a challenge to grow.”
“Being in this beautiful building is something many of us have dreamed of since we set foot on Grounds,” junior field hockey player Mia Abello said.
The four-floor building is attached to the McCue Center and neighbors the Hardie Football Operations Center. It includes new locker rooms and lounges for the teams and coaches, as well as spacious meeting rooms, offices, a 12,000-square-foot strength and conditioning area, a sports medicine and hydrotherapy space, a nutrition fuel station, an equipment room and tutoring and academic support spaces, among other amenities.
“This facility will transform the student-athlete experience for years to come,” Kevin Miller, Virginia Athletics Foundation executive director, said of the Harrison Center, which broke ground in June 2023.
Teams moving into the new building will move out of the “Proving Grounds” trailers on the site of the former Onesty Hall parking lot, their home for the seven years between University Hall’s demolition and the Harrison Center’s opening.
Williams lauded those teams for their continued success under unique circumstances, noting the two NCAA titles for men’s lacrosse in 2019 and 2021 and numerous Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
