Towson to rename its stadium after Unitas
SportsLine.com wire reports
TOWSON, Md. -- Johnny Unitas Stadium will be home for the Towson University football team this season.
Now called Towson Stadium, the school's new 11,198-seat facility will be formally named Johnny Unitas Stadium at Towson University, the school announced Monday. The stadium is also home for the men's and women's lacrosse teams, and the field hockey team.
Unitas, a Hall of Fame quarterback who played 18 season with the Baltimore Colts, was a significant figure in the Towson community until his death in September 2002.
Unitas' widow, Sandy, is leading a drive to raise $5.25 million to help finance renovation of the stadium, which otherwise would have been funded by the sale of the stadium's naming rights.
"I believe that John would be thrilled to have his name on the stadium at Towson University," she said. "He cared as much about education as he did about competition."
Johnny Unitas served as a community liaison for the athletic department. On Sept. 5, 2002, he threw the ceremonial first pass at the opening of the new stadium.
Six days later, Unitas died of a heart attack at 69.
His responsibilities included fund raising for the new stadium, a job that Sandy Unitas took over after her husband's death.
The couple has sent three children to Towson, the state's second-largest public institution behind the University of Maryland. Two of them, Paige and Chad, are currently enrolled at Towson.
AP NEWS
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