{"id":610489,"date":"2026-04-17T15:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610489\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:46:14","slug":"ex-uconn-soccer-star-tony-rizza-pledges-1-5m-gift-to-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610489\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-UConn soccer star Tony Rizza pledges $1.5M gift to athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UConn athletic department<\/a> received another sizable donation this week, announcing a $1.5 million gift from former Huskies soccer star Tony Rizza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There is incredible momentum across UConn Athletics right now and seeing both our men’s and women’s basketball teams reach the Final Four in this year’s NCAA tournament underscores what’s possible here,” Rizza said in a press release statement. \u00a0“The continued growth across programs is a reflection of the strong leadership under David Benedict and a clear vision of what’s required to continue competing at the highest level – I’m proud to join the Skinners to contribute in a way that helps sustain that level of excellence.”<\/p>\n

Rizza joined a men’s soccer program that brought an early jolt of momentum to the UConn athletic department, winning the school’s first NCAA men’s championship in 1981. A Newington native, Rizza held down the Huskies’ back line from 1983 to 1986, appearing in 59 games and leading the Huskies to a pair of Big East Conference championship squads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After graduating from the UConn School of Business, Rizza went on to enjoy a tremendously successful career on Wall Street, serving as the former CEO of Stamford-based Columbus Circle Investors. He’s been a consistent contributor to Huskies athletics, pledging a total of $8 million in 2014 to create a “state-of-the-art” soccer facility in Storrs, currently named the\u00a0Rizza Performance Center, which was the largest individual donation to date for the UConn athletic program.<\/p>\n

“Tony Rizza exemplifies what it means to be a Husky for life,” Benedict said. “His generosity has already helped transform the physical landscape of UConn Athletics in profound ways, and this latest commitment reflects his trust in our leadership and our vision for the future. Gifts like Tony’s provide meaningful and immediate support for our highest priorities, giving us the ability to compete and lead at the highest level. We are incredibly grateful.”<\/p>\n

His most recent gift is labeled as supporting athletic department leadership and is structured to provide immediate funds to Benedict and various UConn programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UConn athletic department received another sizable donation this week, announcing a $1.5 million gift from former Huskies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[222054,49,48,222053,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-610489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-all-daily-sites","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-ct-insider","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}