Utah Collegiate Boosters Top Most-Influential List Thanks To Facility Donations

Utah State Univ. booster JIM LAUB and Univ. of Utah boosters SPENCE ECCLES and JON HUNTSMAN SR. "share the billing as the co-Most Influential Person in Utah Sports" in '14, according to Kurt Kragthorpe of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Laub provided the "lead gift for USU’s Wayne Estes Center, Eccles helped to fund Utah’s Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center and Huntsman was instrumental in the development of the Utes’ Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Center, scheduled to open next spring." The building boom has become "one of the biggest stories in collegiate athletics in the state." USU AD SCOTT BARNES said with the school administration, Laub "picks his spots" in making suggestions and is insightful. Utah AD CHRIS HILL said, similarly, Eccles and Huntsman are "very passionate ... and they’re just like everybody else -- when the Utes are playing, they want us to win. At the same time, they know we have jobs to do, and they’re supportive" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 8/11).