Board of Visitors Rector Edward L. Hamm Jr. made a surprise - and welcome - announcement at the board's April meeting: a personal gift of $50,000 to establish the Board of Visitors Unrestricted Athletic aEndowment.

The fund was created to encourage current, former and future Board of Visitors members to show their support for Old Dominion's athletic programs, Hamm said.

The athletic department will be able to use the interest generated by the endowment for a variety of needs, including equipment, scholarships and recruiting.

Hamm also recently added $50,000 to a scholarship fund he had established earlier at the university.

Hamm, who has served on the Board of Visitors since 1994 and is at the halfway point of his second four-year term, is the president of E. L. Hamm & Associates Inc., a management and engineering consulting firm headquartered in Virginia Beach.