By Jordan Green, Editor-in-Chief
Northwestern athletics officials dedicated a refurbished training room in Percefull Fieldhouse to a Northwestern alumnus on Saturday.
Leaders of the university athletics department hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Jim Booth Training Room, which is named in honor of the 1973 graduate. Booth was one of the first student trainers for the football and baseball teams.
His estate gifted $500,000 to the athletic department, $100,000 of which was used to purchase new equipment for the room. The remainder has been endowed in scholarships for student trainers. The donation is the second largest in the athletic program’s history.
“It’s been a program-altering donation,” said Northwestern Athletics Director Brad Franz. “Jim was a true Ranger.”
Booth was born with physical disabilities, and he was never able to participate in athletics, Franz said. But he loved sports, and he channeled that passion into helping athletes.
“He never let his disabilities hold him back,” Franz said.
Officials established the Jim Booth Athletic Training Scholarship in 2021. In a plaque commemorating the scholarship, officials described Booth as a hard worker and a man of character.
“Oftentimes, Booth worked non-stop pulling double-duty through overlapping sports seasons,” the plaque reads. “As was his nature, Booth made an initiative to treat everyone equally. He never complained and always had words of encouragement for all of his athletes.”
Booth taught and coached at public schools in northwest Oklahoma after his graduation, and he served as a baseball umpire. He frequented Northwestern sporting events, and when he wasn’t able to attend in-person, he kept up on the news. He died in February 2021 at the age of 74, according to the Alva Review-Courier.
“Jim would call once a week,” Franz said. “He lived in Caldwell, Kansas, and he wanted to talk about the Rangers, wanted to talk about the games, how the games went last week, how the kids are doing. He just loved, loved, loved Northwestern with his whole heart.”