Doug and Nancy Barnhart Donate $100,000 for Athletic Rehabilitation Center at UC San Diego

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Doug Barnhart

Local businessman and philanthropist Doug Barnhart and his wife Nancy have donated $100,000 to establish the Douglas Barnhart Athletic Rehabilitation Center at the University of California San Diego. The new space will be located in the Alex G. Spanos Athletic Performance Center, which was opened in October of 2015.

The gift will be split to create an endowment for the Athletic Rehabilitation Center, as well as to provide current use funding for the greatest needs of the Spanos Athletic Performance Center.

“We are so grateful to Doug and Nancy Barnhart for their generous support of the new Athletic Rehabilitation Center,” said UC San Diego Director of Athletics Earl W. Edwards. “This new state-of-the-art center will help ensure the health and well-being of our student-athletes, and provide the necessary tools for them to play at their optimal level of performance.”

The endowment will provide funding to outfit and maintain the Athletic Rehabilitation Center, including equipment to support training and recovery for students to reach their optimal health and athletic performance. Several pieces of equipment in the center can be used for non-impactful cardio activity, helpful for athletes to maintain their fitness and muscle mass, without aggravating current injuries. The space will also feature bikes that use biofeedback technology to measure whether a rider is applying the same pressure on both legs. The center also features a hydrotherapy pool, which can be used by all student-athletes to aid in faster post-exercise recovery.

UC San Diego’s hydrotherapy room, which is part of the Douglas Barnhart Athletic Rehabilitation Center

“We are pleased to support this project which will have a positive benefit on UC San Diego’s student-athletes,” said Doug Barnhart. “It is demanding to be a student-athlete and get through college, so our hope is that this gift will help keep these students healthy, thriving and performing at their best.”

In addition to establishing the Barnhart Athletic Rehabilitation Center, the Barnharts’ support will also provide current use funds to help meet the greatest needs of the Spanos Athletic Performance Center, which is home to the new Athletic Rehabilitation Center. The gift will provide funding for audio and video components throughout the building, as well as support for UC San Diego Athletics’ nutrition center, which provides guidance and tools to ensure that student-athletes receive proper nutrition to perform and compete at their highest level.

Doug Barnhart co-founded Barnhart Reese Construction, Inc., with his daughter Tamela Barnhart Reese and his son-in-law, West Reese, a UC San Diego alumnus of 1994. Doug Barnhart is also the former CEO and chairman of Barnhart Construction, Inc., the largest locally-owned construction management company in San Diego and the sixth largest educational builder in the nation.

To learn more about Spanos Athletic Performance Center or naming opportunities still available, please visit ucsd.edu/go/spanos.