CHESTNUT HILL — Jim Husson, the senior vice president of university advancement for Boston College, used the phrase “transformational generosity” to describe Margot Connell’s contributions to the school’s cultural landscape.
Mrs. Connell, of Swampscott, was honored by BC Friday as the building named in her honor — the Margot Connell Recreation Center — was dedicated at an outdoor ceremony in front of the new building. She donated $50 million toward the construction of the 244,000 square-foot, four-story facility on Thomas More Road that sits on the site of a former dormitory.
Mrs. Connell is the only person in her family who did not attend Boston College. Her husband, William F. Connell, did; and their six children did as well.
So how did she come to devote so much of her adult life to the Heights?
“I married into the college,” she said during her address at the ceremony. Her husband, a 1959 graduate who died in 2001, was a major player in Boston business who, among other things, helped broker the deal that kept the New England Patriots in Massachusetts after they had threatened to move to Connecticut.
“I think I have warmer feelings about this college than I have about my own (Michigan State),” Mrs. Connell said afterward. “I was welcomed into the fold, and the college has been very good to me and my family.”
Athletic Director Martin Jarmond called the recreational center a “game-changer. And I don’t use that term lightly.
“This building’s impact on the community will be far-reaching,” he said.
Jarmond said that so far 8,047 students have signed up as members, “and if you don’t think that’s possible, well, numbers don’t lie.
“The impact this building will have in the future we will never know,” he said, harkening back to what seemed to be the theme of the evening. “The impact will be transformational.”
Mrs. Connell said she wanted a state-of-the-art recreational center for a number of reasons.
“My husband always felt strongly that academics and athletics go hand-in-hand,” she said. “That can be seen in the amount of interest he showed in the nursing program, and the William F. Connell School of Nursing.”
The other half of the equation also came about because of the tremendous interest the family had in sports. Mrs. Connell was a swimmer at Michigan State. The six Connell children played sports. William Connell enjoyed golf, fly fishing and sailing.
The first floor is dominated by an aquatics center, climbing and bouldering walls, multi-activity courts, a golf simulator and locker rooms.
On the second floor there’s a spin studio, fitness center with cardio and strength equipment, and a multipurpose room.
The third floor has hardwood courts, tennis courts, and more fitness rooms, while the top story features a jogging track, a Queenax strength training center, and racquetball and squash courts.
“The school needed a place for people to go to work out, run, swim, and enjoy general recreation, plus the ability to participate in team sports,” she said. “This beautiful facility is the result.”
Mrs. Connell, who was happy to give the school a sizable donation to propel the building from its planning stages to completion, also acknowledged other contributors, and thanked them all.
But, she said, she wasn’t quite as keen on having the building named after her.
“I had to be talked into that,” she said. “Jim (Husson) and my children really convinced me that I should. They told that it would be the first building on campus named for a woman, but I don’t know. You better check that!”
