MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Loyal West Virginia University supporters Byron and Susan Witt have contributed a major gift of $150,000 to the WVU women’s basketball program to help renovate the Mountaineers’ locker room inside the WVU Coliseum. This donation is in addition to another $100,000 the Witts gave to the program in 2014 for women’s basketball facility upgrades in the Basketball Practice Facility and WVU Coliseum.
“We are extremely grateful to the Witts for their generous donation to the women’s basketball program,” WVU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Shane Lyons said. “They have been tremendous supporters of WVU Athletics for many years. This donation will help Mike Carey and his program continue to compete and excel at a national level.”
The donation will help the program update flooring, lockers and other items that will give the Mountaineers some of the best accommodations in the Big 12 Conference and nationally.
“Byron and Susan Witt have been supporters of our program for more than 30 years,” coach Mike Carey noted. “Their tireless dedication has helped our program grow. This gift will help us continue to elevate our West Virginia University brand, as we continue our goal to reach a Final Four and win a national championship. I would like to say thank you to the Witts for their continued generosity over the years.”
The Witts have been staunch supporters of West Virginia University Athletics and in particular the women’s basketball program since the 1980s. They have attended a majority of the Mountaineer women’s basketball home games and have traveled to support the team on multiple occasions.
“We have been looking for some way to support the University and wanted to have some control of who it was going to be used by,” Susan Witt said. “We have been followers of the women’s program since the early 1980s. We have been going religiously every year since, so we’ve been through the low and the high times. As supporters of women’s basketball, we decided this was the best decision, so that the funds could help in recruiting and facilities and make WVU comparable to other top programs across the country. We love Mike Carey and the way he runs the program. We feel that the program is a class act and we want the facility to be a class act.”
“I want to pay back the program for all the joy it has brought to us,” Byron Witt added. “It has been great over the years. In the past, there have been many times where it was just parents and us in the gym watching the team play. It is great to see what progress we have made over the years, but it’s still not enough.”
Byron Witt was born in Calhoun County, West Virginia, and attended Calhoun County High in Grantsville, before arriving in Morgantown as a freshman at WVU in 1959. He graduated from West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Witt briefly worked for the University and for a pharmaceutical company in New York before returning to the Mountain State and working for Mylan for 37 years. Witt retired as Mylan’s vice president of global quality in 2007.
Susan Witt also is a West Virginia native, born in Preston County. She attended nursing school and worked at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. She ran her own business for several years and raised the family’s two daughters, Christina Rollins and Carrie O’Neil. Witt is an avid artist and athlete who enjoys playing a variety of sports recreationally, including softball. The Witts have two grandsons, Logan Hatch and Brady Hatch.
The Witts also are lifetime members of the Mountaineer Athletic Club’s Women’s Basketball Legacy Fund. The couple hope that more Mountaineer enthusiasts will join the Legacy Fund to help raise the profile of the women’s basketball program and WVU Athletics.
“Many people don’t realize that they can earmark funds for a specific project or sport,” Byron Witt said. “We would like to get the knowledge out there, not only just for the women’s program, but for other programs they choose to support.”
By supporting the Women’s Legacy Fund, donors ensure that WVU basketball’s proud tradition will continue well into the future. Women’s Legacy Fund members receive a number of benefits including coaching staff interaction and an apparel item. In addition, members receive donor recognition and other special benefits.
The Women’s Legacy Fund helps offset ever-increasing costs associated with top-flight basketball programs, which includes recruiting. All funds in support of the Women’s Legacy Fund go directly toward ensuring that coach Carey and his staff have the necessary resources to recruit top-tier basketball student-athletes to WVU.
Renovations for the women’s basketball WVU Coliseum locker room will take place in the near future. The locker room will be called the Byron and Susan Witt Locker Room.
