Sonny and Kate Dykes gift $1 million to TCU athletics
TCU football coach Sonny Dykes and his wife Kate are making a major financial investment into TCU athletics.
The Dykes family donated $1 million to the program, which will be split between honoring former TCU offensive lineman Jamal Powell with his name on the weight room in the new Harrison Family Football Performance Center as well as recognizing Shirley Enis, late wife of TCU Trustee Hunter Enis, with an endowment in her name to support women’s athletics at TCU.
“Sonny and I are so appreciative to be at TCU,” Kate Dykes said in a statement. “When we first came here in 2017, we saw how special the TCU community is. We are very proud to give back to a place that means so much to our family and recognize Jamal Powell and Shirley Enis for the impact they made on our lives.
“From his playing days here, Jamal always had a place in his heart for TCU and became a part of our family when he coached with Sonny. Shirley had such a passion for TCU and was one of the kindest people Sonny and I ever met. She immediately welcomed us into her TCU family, and we are so honored to return the love she shared with us.”
Powell was a three-year letterman (2000-02) for the Horned Frogs, earning First-Team All-Conference USA honors his senior year. He then began a collegiate coaching career with Dykes hiring Powell as his offensive line coach at SMU in 2018. They worked together for three years until Powell’s passing in April 2021 at the age of 39.
During his press conference previewing the season opener at Stanford on Friday, Dykes explained why he felt it was so important to invest in TCU’s future.
“We’re just so excited to be here, so blessed to be here at TCU,” Dykes said. “We feel like this university has given us so much. This is really just a special place. It’s a unique university that takes care of its own. I think that’s what’s so cool about TCU, it’s a service culture.”
The Dykes family saw this an opportunity to provide their own service in both honoring Powell’s impact on their lives while also helping secure future funding for female athletes.
“We chose to honor two people that have been really important to us personally,” Dykes said. “Jamal loved TCU probably as much as anybody. As we started talking about this gift we felt he was incredibly deserving and what he represents is what I think TCU represents. He was about taking care of people and giving back.
“Shirley has made a huge impact on us. She went out of her way to be so kind to Kate and I when we came over here to TCU. There’s nobody that’s given TCU more than Hunter Enis and his family. We wanted to do something for women’s athletics, with the changing world today it’s going to be important for all of us to recognize if we want to keep the current model to provide scholarships and opportunity for women, we’re going to have to fundraise and we felt strongly about preserving and enhancing women’s programs.”
The gesture shows how much TCU means to the Dykes’ family. Ahead of the football season, Dykes is making clear he believes in not only the future of the football program, but TCU athletics as a whole.
This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 10:36 AM.
