Shawn Wax (center), surrounded by his I FUND staff at the Nokia Sugar Bowl.

What a magical year this has been for Fighting Illini fans!

Thanks to your generous and thoughtful gifts, total private support to the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics reached new high-water marks this year for dollars raised and number of donors. In addition, significant lead gifts fueled three important projects, the construction of a state-of-the-art indoor golf practice facility, the construction of a championship outdoor tennis center and the expansion of our Academic Services building. And finally, the success of the DIA online giving campaign surpassed even our high expectations by almost tripling what the entire campus raised online last year.

As fans, we are still buoyed by the 37-2 magical season of our men's basketball team. Wow! What a ride! Yet, quietly, so many of our teams obtained lofty national recognition for their accomplishments. Wrestling captured our first outright Big Ten Championship since 1952 and was ranked No.1 in the nation. Both men's gymnastics and men's tennis enjoyed stellar years and were ranked as high as No. 2 nationally. Volleyball pulled off the upset against top-ranked USC. Coach Janet Rayfield's soccer team reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament and women's cross country earned its first ever trip to the national championships. It truly is a great time to be a Fighting Illini!

These results have inspired us to dream even bigger, but ours is more a game of chess, not checkers. We need to be strategic in our thinking, maintaining an ability to adapt quickly to an ever-changing intercollegiate athletic landscape. We need to be steadfast in our mission to have a program of high integrity and academic achievement. Most of all, we need private financial support to turn our dreams into results, our results into more inspiration, and our inspiration into bigger dreams. Do you dare to dream with us? Recall how you felt when Deron Williams' three-point shot swished through the net against Arizona. My guess is that you already do!

Here on the I FUND website, it is our hope to provide information to you. I invite you to contact any of our development staff with any questions or concerns, or ideas you have for the website.

I look forward to seeing you at a Fighting Illini event soon.

Warmest Personal Regards,

Shawn Wax

Associate Athletic Director for Resource Development
Director of Development

2005 Illini Summer Bash in Chicago!

Letter From the Editor
Dear I FUND Members,
We have added to our I FUND website. "I FUND News" will become a valuable tool for us to communicate with you on a regular basis, keeping you updated on what is happening within the athletic department and provide you with feature articles on major gifts and what I FUND members like yourself are experiencing. We have high hopes that this new communication tool will bring our I FUND family closer and allow you, to appreciate one another's efforts toward the continued success of our athletic department.

Illinois Announces Endowment for Men's Tennis Coaching Position
The Mills family has been a part of Illinois athletics ever since the 1930's, when Culver C. Mills enjoyed a successful career as a basketball player. His son and Illini great, Doug Mills went on to earn six varsity letters at Illinois playing basketball, baseball and football in the early 1960's. Today, another Mills will make his mark on Illinois athletics by supporting the men's tennis program through an endowment in support of the U of I head tennis coach position. On Friday night at the Illinois-Duke tennis match, a gift of $1 million will establish the David and Meredith Mills Endowed Head Tennis Coach Fund.

Illinois receives $1 million for Softball Stadium
The University of Illinois has received a $1 million gift from the Rex & Alice A. Martin Foundation to complete the final phase of its softball complex. The phase will include the construction of a permanent press box, rest rooms, permanent concessions, and a clubhouse for the Illini softball team. The clubhouse will include a locker room/rest rooms for the team as well as a training room and a coaches' locker room.