$5.3 Million Land Gift to USU

A new era for higher education in the Uintah Basin has been ushered in with a $5.3 million land gift from life-long resident Bob Williams to Utah State University — the second largest private gift to the university in its 118-year history.

 

A special private ceremony recognizing the significance of this gift and the impact it will have on the Uintah Basin was March 17 at the Utah Field House of Natural History.

 

The total property deeded to the university is 138 acres — 33 acres more than the size of USU’s original Logan campus back in 1888. The Vernal property borders 500 North (Maeser Highway), just south of Uintah High School.

 

USU President Stan Albrecht said the gift’s timing could not have been better.

 

“Utah State University is on the edge of tremendous transformation,” Albrecht said. “USU was established as a state institution and not just a Logan-based school. This property, along with other USU properties in Roosevelt, will one day house a full-fledged Uintah Basin campus. It signals the beginning of a Utah State University system comprised of strong regional campuses statewide.”

 

The gift is a culmination of a journey that began with Williams as a 15-year-old boy who just wanted to play basketball. He recalled how the lack of facilities forced him to take desperate measures: breaking into the high school gymnasium on Sunday afternoon to play basketball.

 

Ever since, he said, he had it in the back of his mind that if he could “give something back to Vernal,” it would be an athletic facility. That little seed, planted way back then, eventually germinated into an idea on such a grand scale that it took even him by surprise. What he envisioned suddenly involved much more than just one building.

 

Driving to and from his ranch each day for more than 30 years, Williams said he had always admired the property across from the Uintah High School. The property belonged to the Merkleys. It was homesteaded by Warren Merkley and Marie Voyles’ grandfather around 1870.

 

Rumors had it that the ground had been sold to developers for a high-density housing subdivision. “I thought that would be a disaster and a disgrace for such a beautiful piece of farm ground,” Williams said. As the weeks passed, every time he looked at that property he was further convinced that it needed to be used for something else.

 

One early morning about 6:30 as he passed the Merkley property, “the thought came into my head: ‘that would certainly be a great place for a college campus.’” He said it was the first time the idea struck him. He drove on to work, but the thought “would not go away,” he said.

 

Once the inspiration hit him, he could barely contain his excitement. “I would wake up in the morning with tears in my eyes and go to bed with tears in my eyes,” he said. “That is when I decided that there’s no way it’s NOT going to happen.”

 

The more he thought about it, the more his enthusiasm grew. “I visualized a great facility that could be built there,” he said. “With the high school just across the street, I could see a walkway overpass connecting the two educational facilities. The more I thought about it, the more I felt it had to be, for I realized what it would do for Vernal and the Uintah Basin.”

 

When he ran the idea by his accountant, Jim Drollinger, he learned that the rumors were true. The property had already been sold for subdivision development and a contract was about to be signed. He knew then that something had to be done.

 

“Well, we’ll figure out a way to make it work,” he told Drollinger.

 

Some three months later, showing the same tenacity that made him a successful businessman, it did happen. The 137.7 acre property, and all necessary water rights, was officially purchased and immediately conveyed to Utah State University on Dec. 30, 2005.

 

Drollinger, who has been Williams’ certified public accountant and friend for the past 35 years, said the land gift to the university does not surprise him.

 

“Nothing surprises me about Bob,” he said. “He’s very generous. Hardly anybody knows that because he likes to do things quietly. All the publicity he’s now getting has been his toughest hurdle.”

 

“It’s a wonderful piece of property, a wonderful place for a USU campus,” said Robert L. Foley, Vernal resident and member of the USU Board of Trustees. “Bob is quiet and unassuming; he likes to stay in the background. But to do this for the community says an awful lot about his character and his vision. He just came forward out of the wild blue.”

 

Albrecht praised Williams for his generosity and vision. He said it is a reflection of a community that places a premium on post-high school education. He said the gift opens doors for the re-introduction of business degrees and the introduction of new degree programs reflecting the Basin=s unique natural resources and petroleum industry — programs not offered anywhere else in the region.

 

“To Bob Williams and his family, I say ‘thank you,’ not only for what you are doing for Utah State University, but for what you are doing for all the residents of the Uintah Basin,” Albrecht said. “The impact of this benevolent act will be felt and appreciated for generations.”

 

Guy Denton, executive director of USU Uintah Basin region, said the gift provides a foundation for future growth. Over the past three decades, communities throughout the Uintah Basin have created mechanisms for the development of a strong regional university campus, he said. This includes increasing the number of on-site facilities in Vernal and Roosevelt, and tapping the rich Logan campus faculty vein through distance education.

 

By developing this property in tandem with the Roosevelt site and bolstering ties with the Logan campus, he said it ensures continued growth and provides quality educational programs to an area of the state that otherwise would be without.

 

After purchasing the property for USU, Williams said he was flabbergasted to learn it was the culmination of a dream others in the community shared independent of him. Only later did he learn about years of steadfast work by Gayle McKeachnie, Vernal resident, former lieutenant governor and former chairman of the USU Board of Trustees, to elevate higher education opportunities in the Basin. He said learning this about McKeachnie, and similar work being done by so many others in the community, only confirmed he made the right decision.

 

Now he hopes others — community and corporate members — will step up and build on what has been started. “There’s lots of money in the community now,” he said. “I know oil companies and others will want to get behind this and support it.”

 

He said that while he’s not “crazy about a lot of the hype” his gift has generated, it will be worth it if it motivates others to step forward and do their part.

 

“There’s a lot of work yet to be done,” he said. “It is a tremendous undertaking. I hope the community will get behind it.”

 

Contact: Robert T. Behunin, 435.722.2294, rbehunin@advancement.usu.edu