A $ 300,000 inheritance from the estate of a school teacher who starred Rutgers lacrosse and soccer player nearly a century ago has grown into a $ 4 million gift to give scholarships to athletes who are in eight compete in Olympic sports.
The scholarships will improve Rutgers’ ability to recruit top male athletes in the fields of lacrosse, golf, soccer, and athletics. Wrestling; and women’s tennis, gymnastics and field hockey, the press release said.
The gift from the David T. Bender Trust, which also gave students at Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick an opportunity to learn about investing, is one of the greatest in Rutgers Athletics history.
After his death in 1980, the David T. Bender Trust was established and invested his $ 300,000 legacy in Rutgers with the aim of increasing the fund to $ 4 million. At that point, he would be transferred to Rutgers to help athletes.
The gift will support a new endowment scholarship for each of the eight Olympic sports. Every year a student from each of these sports receives a Bender scholarship.
David Bender, who graduated from Rutgers College in 1925, was an All America lacrosse player in 1924, a football letter winner, and a Rutgers coach until World War II. He was later a PE teacher at Rahway High School.
While at Rutgers, the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania native was an attacker and focus on the 1923 and 1924 soccer teams that set identical 7-1-1 records. Bender’s successes led to his induction into the Rutgers Football Hall of Fame and the establishment of the David Bender Trophy in 1947, which was awarded annually to Rutgers’ best offensive and defensive linemen.
“Mr. Bender wanted to pass on his love for the Scarlet Knight, and because of his generosity and heavy investments, his impact has grown exponentially,” Carly Northup, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development, said in a press release. “Eight endowed scholarships will make us one Giving a boost to the competition with our Big Ten colleagues. “
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“David Bender was helped through exercise at Rutgers as a young man and he wanted to show gratitude,” said trust chairman Greg Francfort in a press release. “A school teacher’s gift of $ 300,000 turned into $ 4 million for learning about compound interest and smart investing in the stock market.”
The trust made the gift in support of The Bells Must Ring, a campaign that is part of the R Fund that raises funds for Rutgers’ athletics programs.
Prior to making this gift, the Trust had raised more than $ 1 million in scholarships for physical education students since 1981.
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The growth in funds in Bender’s estate was greatly helped by students at Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick. In 1994 founded the Little Investment Bankers of Rutgers (LIBOR) school. The organization’s students provided investment research to the Bender Trust as they tracked both investment returns and valuable work experience. Since 1994, nearly 1,000 Rutgers students have participated in an annual stock research project run by Bender Trust.
Brian Brecht, head coach of the men’s lacrosse team, said he was grateful to the Bender Trust for making this gift in support of Rutgers Athletics.
“Your tremendous support of our program with this scholarship gift combined with our high-ranking university and the Academic Success Center of Gary and Barbara Rodkin will undoubtedly have a huge impact on our student athletes and our future successes,” said Brecht in the press release.
The Bells Must Ring is an R-Fund initiative that aims to increase annual donor participation to support athletic scholarships, the Big Ten Champions Fund, the leadership development department and strategic partnerships, and team-specific accounts.
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