Billionaire, Houstonian entrepreneur and Board of Regents chairman Tilman Fertitta donated $20 million to the reconstruction of UH’s basketball arena, giving the Cougars a new home for years to come. | File photo/The Cougar
It’s official: The Hofheinz Pavilion will now be called the Fertitta Center after its renovation.
Although the estimated completion date is fall 2018, students and the UH community have been vocal about this topic. Some who remember the legacy of Roy Hofheinz and his contributions for Houston might find this change upsetting, but it seems most students are happy with Tilman Fertitta’s generosity.
Dylan Koops, pre-law sophomore
“It should be called the ‘Guy V. Lewis Basketball Court.’ He lead an era of athletics that would have made UH a Tier One athletics school like UT or A&M, but after he left things fell apart.”
Alexandria Nix, Business marketing Junior
“I mean he paid $20 million. For that amount of money I think it should definitely be named after him.”
TJ Liebowitz, journalism senior
“Tilman Fertitta continues to do great things for this university and that should be applauded. The concern that should be raised is more with the history of our athletic programs. There’s a lot of greatness that’s happened on this campus. I think sometimes we forget the era of Bill Yeoman and Jack Pardee in football.”
Pablo Benitez, economics senior
“I think with everything that’s been happening on our campus — like growing as a school and an athletic program, and all the attention we’ve been getting — this is great news for us.”
Opinion columnist Marialuisa Rincon is a journalism junior and can be reached at [email protected]
