Donor Spotlight: Jeff and Beth Lundquist

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- When Jeff Lundquist was a Central Michigan University student, he was a big-time basketball and football fan.

That was in the 1980s, when Melvin McLaughlin was lighting it up in what was then known as Rose Arena, and Herb Deromedi's Chippewa football teams were the class of the Mid-American Conference.

Fast forward some 30 years, and Jeff and his wife Beth have become benefactors to Chippewa Athletics, first making a financial commitment to the men's basketball locker room project and then a verbal pledge to Isabella Bank VIP Club passes in the under-construction Chippewa Champions Center for football Saturdays.

It had been more than three decades since Jeff Lundquist had spent any measurable time on CMU's campus when, in 2016, he and Beth brought their daughter, Hannah, to Mount Pleasant for her freshman year.

It was flashback time with a dash of sentimentality for Jeff, who said that campus evoked memories of his hometown, Custer.

"The one thing that caught my eye when I visited Central is that I could walk from one end of campus to the other," he said. "It was nice. I always felt that it's been a very personable school. I felt that back in the '80s. I knew right away on my visit that that's where I was going to go. My experience, my four years there, was really good. It's a great place."

Certainly, things had changed on campus in the intervening three decades from the time Jeff was a student until his daughter became a Chippewa. New buildings? Yes. Aesthetic changes? Certainly.

But it still had the same charm, the same comfortable feel, the same welcoming vibe.

"I just felt at home there," Jeff said.

With Hannah at CMU, Mount Pleasant became a regular destination for her parents, who live in Hamilton. Visits to campus increasingly coincided with football and basketball games and before Jeff knew it, his passion for all things maroon and gold was rekindled. Beth was on board as well.

"At first it gave us the opportunity to go up and see Hannah and spend time with her," Beth said. "It gave us the opportunity for family time together. I didn't play sports, but I've always been a sports fan."

The Lundquists are now regulars as CMU football and men's basketball games. What sold them on CMU Athletics? A lot of the same things that sold Jeff on CMU when he was coming out of Mason County Eastern High School in the early 1980s, and Hannah when she was a Hamilton High School student eyeing a place to further her education.

Reunions at tailgates and the welcoming atmosphere among Chippewa Athletic Fund members at basketball games were among the draws for the Lundquists.

"I wanted to be more involved in it and Central gave me a perfect opportunity," he said. "I've gotten to know some people there and that's what I've been looking for. We love that aspect of it. We love the interaction, going to the basketball game and (going) in the club lounge. We've gotten to know a lot of people. They personally know you. They call us by name and it's 'How are you doing? How's Hannah?'"

Jeff and Beth said that one experience in particular is telling about why they feel so welcome around CMU Athletics. They attended a late-season CMU men's basketball game and afterward visited the Chippewa Athletic Fund offices in the Indoor Athletic Complex. There, they bumped into Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Michael Alford. Alford took them on an impromptu tour of the under-construction Chippewa Champions Center.

That Alford took the time to welcome them and show them around both impressed and touched the Lundquists, who humbly describe themselves as modest-by-comparison donors.

"It's a more personal aspect," Jeff said. "Even though we're not huge donors, it's like we're still an important part of it. That stuff is important to us. We do feel that Central does care about us helping. We just try to play our part; we're just happy to help.

"We have a passion for some things and that's what we wanted to do. It was important for us, and for my alma mater, to do this."

Hannah's experiences at CMU have also been a driving force in the Lundquists' desire to lend their support. Hannah began, as most freshmen do, with Leadership Safari, and then later took an on-campus job at the Enberg Academic Center, first as a tutor and then as an office assistant.

"We are big proponents of the Leadership Safari program," Beth said. "I think that's an excellent program for incoming students to participate in.

"She loved her time at the Enberg Center, being around the athletes, things like that. She talked about how many great things went on within the athletic department and it kind of solidified what we were thinking and what we wanted to do from a financial perspective. She had great stories about the students that came through."

Central Michigan University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos