Rhodes Stadium is named for trustee Dusty Rhodes, his wife, Peggy, and their family. They are among the largest benefactors in Elon history and are involved in promoting the university’s growth in numerous ways. Their
$2 million gift provided key funding for the stadium project.
Dusty has served on the board of trustees since 1997, and the couple has made numerous gifts and pledges, supporting building projects, academic programs and a variety of scholarships.
“Investing at Elon, you can make a difference and see what your gift does,” Dusty says. “If you gave a million dollars to some large institution, you would never see it. But at Elon you can immediately see the results. It’s very gratifying.”
“Dusty and Peggy’s influence at Elon has been transformational,” says Leo M. Lambert, Elon president. “Their generosity has helped us reach goals that many believed were beyond our reach. And they have matched their philanthropy with a personal community involvement that has provided visionary leadership. Dusty and Peggy, and their family, are great supporters of Elon.”
A journey to Elon
Dusty and Peggy grew up in Fremont, Ohio. After quitting high school in 1946, Dusty enlisted in the U.S. Navy and spent four years intercepting Russian communications. After his discharge in 1950, he returned home and married Peggy, his high school girlfriend. Over the next 50 years, Peggy and the couple’s children, Debbie, David, Larry and Jennifer, followed Dusty around the country. “My children have always told me that I have a three-year itch to change jobs,” he says.
The first move after their marriage took them to Purdue University, where Dusty earned a degree in physical education in 1956, while Peggy worked at the local telephone company. A right-handed pitcher, Dusty was a three-year starter on Purdue’s baseball team under coach Hank Stram, who went on to coach the Kansas City Chiefs football team.
During his career, Dusty was always on the lookout for new opportunities. In his first job, from 1956 to 1960, he taught biology and coached baseball and swimming at Edsel Ford High School in Dearborn, Mich. In his spare time, he worked as an athletic trainer with the Los Angeles Rams. He later tried engineering and became involved in computer programming. After joining General Electric, Dusty worked with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese in 1965, adding computer-generated statistics to the “Game of the Week” on CBS television.
After a variety of positions in education, engineering and computers, Dusty joined Cisco Systems, a start-up technology company, in 1988. As one of the original 17 employees, he had an opportunity to help turn a small company into a big one. Within a decade, Cisco became a leading force in the technology revolution, with more than 25,000 employees.
In 1990, the Rhodes moved to the Elon community, a convenient location for Dusty’s work in opening Cisco’s new sales office in Research Triangle Park. Larry had graduated from Elon in 1986, and Jennifer’s husband, Mike Ford, graduated in 1984. With family and friends close by, it seemed a great place to call home. Today, all four of their children and their families, including five grandchildren, live nearby.
Getting involved, staying involved
As active and devoted members of the Elon community, the Rhodes can be found cheering at sporting events and in the audience at theatre and music performances. They have traveled to Hawaii with the basketball team, to Miami with the baseball team and have visited Elon’s facilities in London. “It’s nice being in our position. We can enjoy all the Elon events,” Peggy says. “That includes the meals,” adds Dusty. They occasionally join students for meals in McEwen dining hall.
“We couldn’t have found a better place to retire,” Dusty says. “I can’t even imagine being down in Florida, retired and having nothing to do. That’s not the way we do things. We enjoy people and feel very blessed and fortunate that we found Elon.”
The Rhodes’ involvement extends beyond the campus to the surrounding community. They are members of St. Mark’s Reformed Church, a growing non-denominational congregation. The Rev. Robert Disher, senior pastor, says when
Dusty discovered that the church’s youth athletic fields were in need of rebuilding, he got involved immediately. Dusty organized a maintenance crew to keep the fields in shape, grooming the infield and mowing the grass. While Dusty is out on the John Deere, Peggy helps out in the church nursery or a small group ministry.
“It appears to people in the community that Dusty just writes the checks, but it is quite the contrary,” Disher says. “They are servant leaders with a keen interest in being involved.”
The Rhodes say their philosophy on giving stems from a sense of family developed during 50 years of marriage. “We’ve taken care of our own children, and it just makes us feel good to help other people,” Dusty says. “You have to look at the multiplier factor. We can touch one, and they can touch many more.”
Part of the family
Dusty cites the family feel of Elon as one of its most attractive qualities. “The heart of Elon is the family atmosphere, the closeness of faculty, staff and students, all understanding and using their positions to help one another,” he says.
The Rhodes joined the Elon Society in 1994 and continued their giving during the Campaign for the Elon Vision. In addition to the stadium, the library and main lecture hall in McMichael Science Center, several rooms in Belk Library and the athletic training room in Koury Center have been named in honor of their contributions.
“I know that there are room signs with our names on them, but we did not give to get our names on rooms,” Peggy says. “We gave to assist young people in their efforts to obtain an education. That is what giving is all about. We are happy to see any donor’s name on any sign. It means someone else is also helping others.”
Dusty gets satisfaction knowing Rhodes Stadium will bring enjoyment to others. “A lot of people are going to walk through those gates, rekindle old friendships and enjoy the moments. And when they see this beautiful facility, they’ll say ‘What an awesome place! This is Elon’s Field of Dreams.’”
Beyond buildings
While the Rhodes have given to bricks-and-mortar campaigns at Elon, touching the lives of young people and investing in education are their primary motivation. They have established a scholarship fund for elementary education majors to help them complete their education in the event of a family emergency. The Rhodes-Ford Sports Medicine Scholarship provides assistance to students pursuing a career in athletic training or sports medicine.
Privately, the Rhodes have made arrangements to help three Elon students attend graduate school.
“We sit down and work out a plan to send them to school, and ask for nothing in return. No repayments,” Dusty says. “We ask them to go out and help other people.”
Olga Vysotskaya, a student from Minsk, Belarus, is one of the students touched by the Rhodes’ generosity. “It’s not just helping me financially. They are my family,” says Vysotskaya. Dusty and Peggy became Olga’s adopted family while she was a student at Elon. They later helped her attend the University of British Columbia, and she is now in her second year of law school at Campbell University.
Vysotskaya says she is lucky. The Rhodes invite her to dinner and to spend holidays at their home, take her shopping and even helped move furniture into her apartment. They also offer parental advice. “Without them, I don’t think I would have been able to get where I am educationally,” she says.
“This kind of charitable thing is unusual in my country, and I don’t think my mother understands.” The Rhodes hope that someday her mother will be able to visit Elon.
Focus on the future
The Rhodes focus on how their contributions will benefit Elon and students over time. “I could care less about what happens today. I’m more concerned about what happens 10 or 15 years from today. If we don’t put down the right foundation, we won’t get there. If you are not a visionary and looking forward, you will get left behind,” Dusty says.
Dusty and Peggy Rhodes are involved, generous and share the core values Elon strives to instill in its students: honesty, responsibility, integrity and selfless giving. Reflecting on his family’s connection with Elon, Dusty says, “It’s hard to believe that we have been able to be a factor in doing these things, but no one can predict what their destiny may hold. Fifty years ago, we had hopes and dreams for our family, but we never envisioned that we could do the things we have done. We hope that we have set an example for others to follow.”
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