KEYDET CLUB Keydet Club Receives Record Endowment Gift from Heslep ’56 Thanks to the generosity of Don Heslep ’56 and his wife, Josephine, the VMI Keydet Club has received the single-largest athletic endowment gift in Keydet Club history. In May 2014, the Hesleps contributed $1 million to their Heslep Family Football Scholarship at VMI. This gift, which fully endows either one out-of-state or two in-state athletic scholarships, is part of the Heslep family’s contributions to the Campaign for VMI. About his recent gift, Heslep said, “It is with great satisfaction that we are able to make this gift to the Keydet Club and for The Heslep Family Football Scholarship. Jo and I know that capital and endowment funds build more competitive programs. We hope that our gift will enable more cadet athletes to have the unique privilege of competing at the highest level of NCAA intercollegiate athletics and to reap the many benefits of a VMI education.” Keydet Club Chief Executive Officer Greg Cavallaro ’84 said of the Hesleps’ record-breaking contribution, “Don and Jo Heslep represent the very best of VMI, and their support for all things VMI is unparalleled. This gift to the VMI Keydet Club will help encourage those who love and truly appreciate the Institute to step forward during the course of the Campaign for VMI and well beyond and validate all that VMI means to them. This is truly a remarkable and historic gift in support of VMI athletics and football.” Coach Sparky Woods expressed the football
Josephine Heslep with son Mark C. Heslep ’83.
program’s gratitude by saying, “Our coaches, staff and players are deeply grateful to Don and Jo for their generosity, and we’re touched that they share our commitment to VMI football. Scholarship football is woven into the soul of the Institute, and commitments like theirs are the only way we can guarantee that we’ll always have it. Any ‘thank you’ we can offer them today cannot properly address the bounty of their perpetual gift to a program in great need.” Heslep matriculated from Fairfield, Virginia, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from VMI. He and his wife, Jo (the former Josephine McPherson of Portsmouth, Virginia, and a 1956 graduate of Mary Washington College), met and married in 1959 in Richmond, Virginia. They have two sons, Mark (VMI Class of 1983) and Donald Jr. In June 2014, Heslep completed his second term as a member of the Keydet Club Board of Governors.
Donald B. Heslep ’56 and his wife, Josephine, at right, with their son, Mark, and scholarship recipient, Cadet Logan Staib ’14.
2014-Issue 3
Thornton Memorial Athletic Scholarship Honors Beloved Son The Keydet Club recently announced the establishment of the Peter Presley Thornton Memorial Athletic Scholarship in honor of Peter Thornton, son of board member Danny Thornton ’78 and his wife, Melissa. Peter died in January 2014 at the age of 22. The scholarship will provide grantin-aid to a National Collegiate Athletic Association cadet-athlete at VMI, with preference given to a member of the men’s soccer, basketball or football team and who matriculates from Lynchburg, Amherst, Campbell or Bedford, Virginia, areas. If no recipients are available from one of these preferred areas, the scholarship will be awarded to a cadet from the commonwealth of Virginia. “Peter was an outstanding athlete,” Thornton said. “He loved sports, particularly soccer, tennis and golf.” Throughout Peter’s life, Thornton brought his son from their home in Lynchburg to Lexington for sports games, as the pair developed a shared love for VMI and Lexington. Thornton spent his youth in Amherst County, Virginia, and matriculated to VMI in 1974. He is a distinguished graduate and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. As a cadet, he served on the Honor Court and was listed in “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities.” He served eight years as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, rising to the rank of captain. He began his professional career at VMI, where he was employed for two years as assistant to the director of admissions. In 1980, he returned to Lynchburg and started his career with Progress Printing Company, the firm that has printed the VMI Alumni Review since 1975. At the time of this writing, he is the national accounts executive, after serving for nearly 20 years as vice president of Sales and Marketing. He also owns (and helped
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