Augusta gets $1.6M donation to complete stalled athletic complex project
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Cony High School's Alumni Field will become Fuller Field after philanthropist Robert G. Fuller Jr. pledged $1.6 million to help complete an upgrade to the complex.
Philanthropist Robert G. Fuller Jr., who has a long history of supporting Augusta-area causes, has committed $1,640,000 to complete Cony High School's athletic field upgrades, a city of Augusta project that had stalled for lack of funds.
Fuller, a former Augusta-area attorney with area roots that go back centuries, said that the donation is "an investment in Augusta's future."
“I believe that when a high school has a continuing history of athletic success, it fosters a sense of community pride," Fuller said in a news release from the city.
"It rubs off. When this pride is evident it becomes easier to attract people who’ll add value — doctors, teachers, artists, entrepreneurs — and who’ll choose to stay around. Not only because Augusta has the superior facilities and services they demand but it’s also where a visitor can detect that its citizens are upbeat and enjoy living where they are."
Fuller's donation closes the gap needed for the $2.3 million project. The city has about $400,000 in reserve for the project, including money left over from when the high school was built in 2006, and $300,000 in community pledges. The project will go out to bid within the next two months, with construction expected to start later this year.
The upgrade to Alumni Field, which will be renamed Fuller Field, has been in the works for years, but stalled a year ago because of lack of money and municipal finance challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city said in the news release. Fuller's donation is an expansion of a $500,000 pledge he made in 2019.
The renovation includes a new artificial turf playing field, bleacher upgrades and a new track and field events area just south of the football field. Artificial turf will allow for a significantly expanded playing season for the complex, including use for other purposes besides football, city officials said.
Fuller, who now lives in Maryland, has also supported MaineGeneral Medical Center, Kennebec Historical Society, other Cony High School initiatives, Kennebec Valley YMCA, Fort Western and Lithgow Library. He endowed a scholarship fund administered by Le Club Calumet Educational Foundation that assists high school seniors in Augusta and neighboring communities pursue post-secondary education. In addition, the Windover Foundation, of which Fuller is a trustee, donated to the University of Maine at Augusta Veterans Academic Center, which was completed in 2017.
“It’s hard to express our depth of gratitude to Bob for what he has done for and continues to do for our city," said Mayor Dave Rollins in the release. "Bob appreciates that youth athletics are a vital element in the development of our children. Ensuring that they have facilities that encourage that growth and that they can be proud of is about as good a gift as someone can make. I speak for the entire community when I say ‘Thank you Bob Fuller, Augusta is a better place because of you.'”
Fuller's original $500,000 pledge came after he contacted City Manager Bill Bridgeo two years ago about helping with a project that would benefit the youth of the city for generations, according to the release.
"You can’t have successful teams these days without the infrastructure you need to support them," he said in the release. "So I don’t think of my action as simply a gift but rather as an investment in Augusta’s future."
Fuller traces his Augusta lineage back to Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Cony, a physician and judge, who founded Cony Free Female Academy in 1816, which later became Cony Free High School. He is also related to Augusta's Melville Weston Fuller, who became the eighth chief justice of the United States.
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