Huskie football success in the early 2000s – and the way that success helped the university reconnect with alumni – convinced President John Peters and others that NIU could compete at top levels. The only things missing, they thought, were facilities worthy of a national powerhouse.
To that end, Athletic Director Cary Groth and her successor, Jim Phillips, developed plans to create state-of-the-art practice, conditioning and academic support facilities. They shopped their ideas around with donors and began a campaign to raise funds for a multipurpose development facility for student athletes.
Enter pharmaceutical company CEO and former NIU football player Jeffrey Yordon and his wife, Kimberly, who had reconnected with the university through football. Initially the Yordon’s gave $1 million to the project. But Jeff Yordon followed college football recruiting closely, and was discouraged to learn that NIU had missed out on several top recruits due to a lack of facilities. Soon the Yordon’s increased their gift to $2.5 million – at that point the largest in NIU athletics history, and at a level that would put their name on the new facility.
The Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Academic and Athletic Performance Center, located just beyond Huskie Stadium’s north endzone, opened in August of 2007. The 62,000-square foot facility featured a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning center, an athletic training room staffed by team doctors and featuring imaging equipment and two rehabilitation pools, and an academic support center with tutoring rooms, group study areas and a fully equipped computer lab, as well as office for staff who would work with NIU’s 400+ student athletes.
Yet before the Yordon Center began operations, plans were in the works for the next step in NIU’s athletic facility renaissance: an indoor practice facility. Winters in northern Illinois can be brutal, and NIU teams could only get in limited time at a rented community facility in DeKalb.
Once again, the campaign began quietly with commitments from major donors. A Who’s Who of supporters came forth: The Yordon’s gave $1.15 million for the Huskie Pride Plaza, the main entrance to the new facility. Dennis and Stacey Barsema gave $1 million for a Hall of Champions that connected the practice facility with the Yordon Center. And for naming rights to the new building, alumnus Ken Chessick and his wife, Ellen, gave $3 million.
The Chessick center opened in August of 2013. The 80,000-square-foot building featured a full-size 120-yard football field (65 feet high at the center to accommodate punts), a four-lane track, batting cages, field goal nets and long jump pits.
Athletic Director Jeff Compher said the Chessick Center would “give us the edge in recruiting for all of our sports.”
“The lack of an indoor practice facility in this location has been used against us in recruiting,” Compher said. “This will no longer be the case. I traveled extensively to look at other campuses while we were planning this facility, and I can tell you that this is one of the best athletic training facilities in the country.”
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