Penn wrestling will soon get an upgraded home following a $20 million donation from 1970 College and 1972 Wharton graduate David Pottruck to support the program.
Pottruck’s donation comes as part of the larger Lasting Legacy of Excellence fundraising campaign, which aims to raise $34 million for the program. Pottruck’s $20 million gift includes $1 million for the wrestling endowment, along with a commitment to match every dollar raised by the community for the endowment, up to an additional $4 million.
The announcement was made by Penn Athletics on Tuesday.
The campaign is expected to culminate in March 2028 with the unveiling of a newly renovated Weightman Hall Gymnasium, the historic home of Penn wrestling and the site of the first-ever collegiate wrestling tournament. Additionally, the campaign aims to raise a total of $9 million to support the wrestling endowment and secure 50% in recurring pledges to support the Grapplers Fund, which supports operational costs such as travel and nutrition.
“[Weightman Hall] was renovated a little over 26 years ago now, and for a long time we’ve been talking about upgrades … [to] the current space,” wrestling head coach Matt Valenti told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “For us, it’s really about having the space we need for the roster we have, and the opportunity to wrestle in a safe environment.”
The Weightman Hall renovation is slated to begin in October, followed by facility design and construction documentation in December. Following the completion of renovations — including modernized locker rooms and state-of-the-art training facilities — Weightman Hall will be renamed the Pottruck-Reina Wrestling Center, in honor of Pottruck for his gift to the program and former head coach Roger Reina, who led the team from 1986 to 2005.
“The money side of things with the NCAA is very up in the air right now, and plenty of [D1] programs have not moved forward with projected new facilities in various sports, including wrestling,” Valenti said. “For us, we’re fortunate this becomes a reality, and we get to march forward and help support this program with a new program of perpetuity.”
Pottruck, who is both a former University trustee and emeritus member of the Penn Athletics Board of Advisers, competed in wrestling and football during his time at Penn.
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Pottruck was a Class III inductee into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for his longtime support of Penn Athletics. He credited his donation to his experience as a student-athlete, which he told Penn Today shaped him in “profound ways.”
“As a wrestler and on the football field, I learned stamina, discipline, and leadership. Today’s student-athletes are no different, and I hope that by supporting Penn Wrestling, I’m helping future generations of leaders develop their enormous potential,” Pottruck said.
In 1999, Pottruck made a $10 million donation to the University to establish the David S. Pottruck Health and Fitness Center. In 2021, he contributed $6.3 million to Penn Athletics to enhance its efforts the Wharton Leadership Academy and the Set the Future in Motion initiative for student-athletes.
Valenti noted that the timing of the gift is “formative” during a period of “turmoil” for college athletics, when “there’s a lot of questions about what the future will look like.”
“For us as a program like this, particularly with the statement that it makes with the facility and with endowment, it really just shows that Penn’s not going anywhere,” Valenti added.
