The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Belichick Plaza dedicated to honor famous Patriots coach
MIDDLETOWN — In a ceremony Friday during Wesleyan’s Homecoming/ Family Weekend, Wesleyan officials dedicated Belichick Plaza in honor of distinguished alumni Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, and his daughter, alumna Amanda Belichick.
Belichick Plaza houses the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame and is located at the Warren Street entrance of the Freeman Athletic Center. Bill Belichick was named to the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Belichicks were joined at the ribbon cutting by Athletic Director Mike Whalen, Wesleyan’s Frank V. Sica director of athletics, Board of Trustees Chair Donna Morea and President Michael S. Roth.
“The great thing about this school and what this building stands for is that at Wesleyan, we have student athletes here. You don’t have to choose between being a student or being an athlete, you can be both,” Bill Belichick said during the dedication.
“That’s what I was in college, and that’s what Amanda was looking for — to participate in intercollegiate athletics and also be challenged at a high level academically. Here, you can really do both,” he said.
Amanda Belichick, a history major at Wesleyan, was captain of the lacrosse team while a student. She served as head coach of women’s lacrosse at Wesleyan from 2013–15, as well as adjunct professor of physical education. She is head coach of the women’s lacrosse team at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
Roth praised Amanda for “her energy, dedication, her spirit, her enthusiasm and smarts for athletics in a liberal arts context.”
Whalen said the mission statement for the Belichick Family Foundation was “to bring the values of the Belichick family — a love of sports, coaching and team building — to athletic leaders of tomorrow.
“To have the Belichick family name — after Amanda and Bill — on this building, so that every day, when our student-athletes come through those doors and they see that name, they’ll think of excellence. And that is what we’re building here,” Whalen said.