$29.1 million gift announced by Alex Rascón puts a new name on arena and keeps Don Haskins’ name there too

Almost everyone in El Paso has a story that happened inside the Don Haskins Center.

Maybe it was a sister walking across the stage at graduation, a first concert, or a night in the stands when the Miners beat a team they weren’t supposed to beat.

Recently, the building got a new name, and the people who chose it made sure those memories came along with it.

GECU, led by Alex Rascón, has committed $29.1 million to the University of Texas at El Paso.

It is the largest gift in UTEP Athletics history and the second-largest the university has ever received.

Only Miguel Loya’s $30 million gift to the College of Engineering earlier this year is bigger. In return, El Paso’s largest indoor venue will be called GECU Arena at the Don Haskins Center for the next 15 years.

Rascón’s first priority was the second half of that name. He considered keeping Coach Haskins on the building paramount, and it is easy to see why.

On a March night in 1966, Haskins sent five Black starters onto the floor against Adolph Rupp’s all-white Kentucky team in the national championship game, and his Texas Western players won, 72 to 65.

That game changed college basketball, and it gave El Paso a story it has told with pride ever since. The arena has carried Haskins’ name since 1998. The coach died in 2008. On Monday, members of his family sat in the building named for him and watched a new chapter begin.

“Our new collaboration with UTEP is about honoring the past while investing in the future,” Rascón said.

“For more than five decades, GECU Arena at the Don Haskins Center has been a place where our community comes together to celebrate, make history, create memories, and support one another. We are proud to stand alongside UTEP in preserving Coach Haskins’ legacy while helping ensure this iconic venue continues serving our region for generations to come.”

The moment came early in Rascón’s time as CEO.

He has spent 28 years there, most recently as chief financial officer. Before that, he ran branches, community development, and communications, and he helped build the credit union’s business intelligence team.

He replaced Crystal Long, who retired this spring after 15 years in charge. When he was named, Rascón said he wanted to keep the organization focused on “people helping people.”

A $29.1 million bet on the city’s most beloved building is about as public a way to show that as there is.

The story behind the donor goes back further than the arena. In 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression, a group of El Paso civil servants each put in $5 of their own money so their neighbors would have somewhere to save and borrow. That small pool of money grew into GECU, which today has more than 441,000 member-owners and about $4.5 billion in assets.

Because the credit union is owned by its members, this gift comes from no single fortune. In a sense, it belongs to the teachers, nurses, soldiers, and small-business owners who bank there.

Rascón and the board led by Chairman Gregory J. Watters decided how to spend it. Watters attended the ceremony with University of Texas System Chancellor John Zerwas, MD, and UTEP President Heather Wilson.

“From graduations to iconic concerts to epic sports rivalries, almost every family in El Paso has a special memory at the GECU Arena at the Don Haskins Center,” Wilson said. “We are grateful and honored that GECU is partnering with us to enhance such an important community resource and for their support of our student athletes.”

The two institutions got close quickly. In August, GECU became the first sponsor ever to put its logo on UTEP uniforms, on the football and basketball jerseys the Miners wear in their first season in the Mountain West Conference. Six weeks later, the credit union’s name is going on the building itself.

Much of the money will go to the arena, which is nearly 50 years old and seats almost 12,000 for basketball. Jim Senter, UTEP’s vice president of athletics, called it “a place where legends unfold” and said a place like that needs care. The funds will pay for improvements to the fan experience, upkeep of the arena and other athletics facilities, and general support for the department.

A lot of the gift is also about the young people who play there. Senter said it will help UTEP recruit and keep athletes in a tougher conference. It will pay for life-skills programs, healthier meal plans, and training for coaches and staff. And fittingly for an organization started with $5 contributions, part of the gift will fund financial literacy classes for UTEP students, so a new generation learns how to manage money.

For the next 15 years, when El Paso families come back to this building for a graduation, a concert, or a big game, they will see a new name on the front.

The coach’s name will still be there too.