By Derek Major- Dr. Trisha Bailey, a University of Connecticut (UConn) graduate and a former track athlete for the school, has made the largest athletic donation in university history.
The Connecticut Insider reports Bailey’s donation, which was not disclosed at her request, is the lead donor toward a $60 million renovation and expansion of the Hugh S. Greer Field House, which she spent many days and nights in while on the Huskies track team.
The Greer Field House is an indoor track facility featuring a 200-meter track with an eight-lane straightaway sprint area, an infield area with separate long jump and triple jump pits, pole vault and high jump areas, locker rooms and a weight room.
The money will also go to the construction of the Bailey Student-Athlete Success Center, an 80,000-square-foot training and academic support facility that will be the home for six of UConn’s sports programs. The center will also have space for offices, strength and conditioning, mental health facilities, locker rooms and more. Construction for the facility will begin next year.
Bailey, who was raised in Jamaica in a home without electricity and running water, moved to the state capital of Hartford when she was a teen with her sister, mother and stepfather.
“It was a better life,” Bailey told the Insider. “Even though we were in these apartment buildings that are as low-income as you can imagine — we lived in a one-bedroom apartment, and my sister and I slept on the pullout sofa — for me, it was, ‘OK, I have electricity, I don’t have to go outside to use the bathroom.’ I was in luxury land. I didn’t know at the time that we were not rich.”
Today, Bailey is the definition of success. She graduated in 1999 from UConn with a degree in human development and family relations and later received an MBA in business administration and a doctorate in management and organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix.
The former track athlete owns several medical certifications and is the owner of three successful businesses in the medical industry, Bailey’s Medical Equipment and Supplies, Bailey’s Pharmacy and Bailey’s Scrubs all located in Florida. Her current net worth is between $600-750 million, making her one of the richest Black women in America and the wealthiest woman in Jamaica.
Bailey, a mother of five, was a millionaire by her 35th birthday and owns an island off the coast of Jamaica where she plans to build a resort. If that wasn’t enough Bailey also owns the largest horse farm in the state of Florida. She has donated more than $10 million to community initiatives in the Orlando area and her autobiography “Unbroken” will be released next summer. (Black Enterprise)
