Chiles Foundation, Holman Gifts Modernize Chiles Center 

University of Portland announced recently a $500,000 RISE Campaign gift from graduates Joe Hollman, ’64 and Travis Hollman ’92, who own and operate Hollman, Inc., a Dallas-based company that designs and creates prestigious locker facilities worldwide.
 
The gift was part of a major renovation of the Earle A. and Virginia H. Chiles Center, one of the premier and most modern athletic and convocation facilities on the West Coast. The renovation, formerly dedicated earlier this month, was spearheaded by a $2 million gift from Earle M. Chiles, president of the Chiles Foundation and a member of the University’s board of regents.
 
Hollman’s gift resulted in the modernization and expansion of the men’s locker rooms for basketball, soccer, baseball, and cross country. Similar work was done for the men’s and women’s coaches locker rooms, visiting locker room and a new rowing locker room. The renovation began last spring and was completed in time for the start of the 2012-13 sports season. The other women’s locker rooms in the Chiles Center were upgraded by Hollman in 2006.
 
“It is our goal to provide student-athletes with the necessary resources and support to achieve greatness,” said Scott Leykam, University of Portland director of athletics. “The most recent donations of Joe Hollman and Hollman, Inc. have elevated our locker rooms to unprecedented levels.”

“Our players love the new lockers and it really makes the whole space much more dynamic,” added UP men’s basketball coach Eric Reveno. “I love the fact that Mr. Hollman is a UP graduate who is ready and willing to give back for the good of our athletic programs. It is great to know that the same company that was contracted for some of the greatest athletic facilities in the world is also furnishing the Chiles Center.”
 
The Chiles Center’s new lockers are designed with custom hardwood, and include team logos etched on stainless steel metal grilles and on glass drawers above a padded “open cubby” seat for each athlete. The locker rooms all feature high definition flat screen televisions and wireless capabilities.

Since 1976 Hollman, Inc. has been the world’s leading provider of luxury, custom wood veneer and plastic laminate lockers. Beautifully handcrafted from luxury materials, Hollman lockers have graced the halls of the finest country clubs, leading resorts and spas, top universities, national sports facilities, health and fitness centers, and municipalities.
Hollman, Inc. designed and created the lockers for the Dallas Cowboys (Arlington, Texas), Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Cornelius, Ore.), the Multnomah Athletic Club (Portland, Ore.), Quail Creek Country Club (Naples, Fla.) and hundreds of other prestigious locker facilities around the world.
 
The project was the latest in a series of recent improvements to the Chiles Center. In 2006, the University expanded and rebuilt the women’s student-athlete locker room facilities during a $1 million renovation that included work by Hollman, Inc. Upgraded weight room training equipment was added in 2008, and a four-sided, center-hung video board was installed in 2010. In addition to the upgraded men's locker rooms in the summer of 2012, a buildout expanded the weight room by nearly 3,000 square feet and provided windows; the sports medicine/athletic training room was expanded and renovated with a state-of-the-art Whirlpool was installed; and new men's basketball offices were created and furnished.
 
The Chiles Center is home to the University of Portland athletic department and is the home court for varsity basketball and volleyball games. It also houses all locker rooms for Pilot athletes, the sports medicine department, weight training room, and a Hall of Fame room. A recreational running track circles the upper mezzanine.

Dedicated in 1984, the Chiles Center ushered in a new era and immediately became not only the cultural and athletic center of campus life, but a vibrant resource for cultural, spiritual, and civic events in the Pacific Northwest. The friendly confines of the Chiles Center have been graced by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, Presidents Ronald Regan and George W. Bush, Jane Goodall and Bob Dylan, Jonathon Kozol and Michael Pollan, by tens of thousands of sporting events and graduations, concerts, and lectures.
 
The gift is part of the University’s RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million over the next several years, The RISE Campaign, which has raised more than $140 million to date, is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university.
 
“The Chiles Center is an excellent home for University of Portland athletics and the most recent upgrades have modernized the facility to make it even more appealing for current and future student-athletes,” said Leykam. “We are very fortunate to have a dedicated alumnus like Joe Hollman to recognize the great things that we are doing and to have Hollman, Inc. be a generous contributor.”