Texas A&M, Dallas Cowboys practice facilities had similar design flaws

By DANNY ROBBINS

 The Associated Press

Texas A&M University’s tentlike athletic complex, designed by the same firm that built the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, wasn’t constructed to withstand the maximum winds specified by the building code, according to an engineering firm hired by the university.

The analysis by Haynes Whaley Associates of Houston suggests that the $35.6 million McFerrin Athletic Center was built using a flawed design similar to that linked to the May collapse of the Cowboys practice facility in Irving, which injured a dozen people.

Both steel-and-fabric structures were designed by Summit Structures Llc. of Allentown, Pa.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Texas Public Information Act show that Haynes Whaley Executive Vice President Mark Thompson informed Texas A&M in September that his firm didn’t believe that the McFerrin Center could withstand 90-mph winds, as specified by national standards.

Summit has added a series of cables to the steel frame in response to Haynes Whaley’s concerns, the documents show.

The company could make more repairs if ongoing wind tunnel testing shows they are warranted, according to the documents.

Completed last year, the McFerrin Center includes two side-by-side buildings — one an indoor football practice facility, the other a running track — that cover 191,000 square feet.

In his initial correspondence with Texas A&M, Thompson wrote that the company believed that the load-bearing capability of the facility was so compromised that it should be closed "out of an abundance of caution."

However, the university didn’t follow the recommendation.

Texas A&M spokesman Jason Cook said the university decided not to close the facility after "continued dialogue" with Haynes Whaley and because it had handled high winds during Hurricane Ike last year.

As a precaution, Cook said, the school has been monitoring severe weather and emptying the facility when appropriate.

"A greater understanding of the structures was realized as the review process progressed," he wrote in an e-mail to the AP.

After the repairs, the football building is now certified to code, and the track building can handle winds up to 75 mph, Cook said.

Thompson referred all comment on his firm’s work to Texas A&M. In a statement, Summit President and CEO Nathan Stobbe said the company continues to work closely with Texas A&M to ensure that the facility is safe.

Summit has been enmeshed in controversy since the Cowboys’ facility collapsed in a windstorm May 2 while the team was conducting rookie drills. Rich Behm, a member of the team’s scouting department, was paralyzed from the waist down, and special teams coach Joe DeCamillis suffered a broken vertebra.

The facility was at least the fifth built by Summit known to have collapsed since 2002.

A report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology last month stated that the facility fell in winds of 55 to 65 mph and that several design flaws were to blame.

Haynes Whaley questioned whether the Texas A&M track facility, 104 feet at its highest point, is particularly susceptible to high winds. Based on its height, the firm contends, the wind loading for the building has been incorrectly determined.

"For this height of building, the building code would require a wind loading pattern that includes a downward wind component," Thompson wrote.

Haynes Whaley was hired by the university in August at the direction of interim President R. Bowen Loftin. The university had previously said it was comfortable with an inspection by Summit in late May that approved the building.

Cook said Summit’s repairs are acceptable to the university because of Haynes Whaley’s involvement.

"Yes, Summit did the work, but they weren’t evaluating it themselves," he said.

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