FORMER RESIDENTS GIVE SIX-FIGURE GIFT OF LAND TO FUND ATHLETIC COMPLEX

Dr. Milton Shoss and Jane Shoss of Hilton Head, S.C., formerly of Cape Girardeau, have donated a six-figure gift of land in the Cape Girardeau area to help fund the recently dedicated Marvin Rosengarten Athletic Complex at Southeast Missouri State University.

"We have had a very close relationship with Marvin Rosengarten and have a great deal of respect for what he has done for the university," Milton Shoss said. "Because we have been close friends with Marvin, we wanted to honor him in this way."

The land donated through the Southeast Missouri University Foundation by the Shosses is a 20-acre parcel just north of the Northfield subdivision.

The new Marvin Rosengarten Athletic Complex comprises the current football building and a recently completed addition. The building has been named for Rosengarten who now is living in St. Louis. Rosengarten had a distinguished 29-year career at Southeast, serving as a coach, athletic director and director of athletic development. A former football player at Southeast, Rosengarten was athletic director from 1979-1989.

The new complex will serve all Southeast athletes through its modern sports medicine facilities, a new weight training facility, meeting rooms and an academic services center. These facilities, in the 7,000-square-foot addition, are part of Phase One of the complex just completed.

The complex is being financed entirely through private funding. The cost of the first phase was $611,000. It was financed through the university's capital campaign and donations from Pat Tlapek and Martin Hecht of Cape Girardeau, and the Shosses.

When additional private funds become available, work will begin on the second phase, which will focus on office and locker room renovations in the current building, university officials said.

"It is not happenstance that a plaque recognizing the Shosses' contributions has been placed in the sports medicine facility," said Stroup. "In view of Dr. Shoss' distinguished career in medicine, a sports medicine facility is an appropriate tribute to his interest in the university's athletic program."

Shoss practiced in the Shoss Radiology Group in Cape Girardeau for 36 years after coming to Cape Girardeau from Houston, Texas, and St. Louis in 1950.