As we near the grand opening of the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, the DIA is acknowledging and celebrating all those donors who made the project possible with special gifts to the many amenities the building will offer Fighting Illini football players.

In this story, we honor the $250,000 gift from alumnus Chuck Vermillion and his wife, Laurie, for the Joe and Mary Grace Vermillion Bowling Alley.

By Sean McDevitt
FightingIllini.com

Illinois alumnus Chuck Vermillion still checks the Illini message boards for news, updates and plenty of speculation regarding his alma mater's athletic program. From his west coast home, he likes to keep up with recruiting and seeing what everyone has to say. It's one of several ways he stays connected to Illinois athletics.

Currently living in Arizona as CEO and founder of AccountabilIT, a full-service information technology services firm, he jokes if you cut him, he'll bleed orange and blue.

It's that passion that has carried him forward in his career and has allowed him to donate a gift to the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Performance Center. Growing up in a quintessential Illinois family, Vermillion couldn't think of a more fitting way to permanently honor his parents.

"It was awesome."

Vermillion spent most of his early childhood in nearby Philo, Illinois. A place where residents rarely lock their doors. It's a safe community, just minutes down the road from Champaign-Urbana. He said it was hard to believe there could be any more influence in his family life than the University of Illinois.

"I can remember, when I was in grade school, being at the U of I for football games," Vermillion said. "Me and my friends, probably eight of us at a time, would go with my Dad in the truck and we'd drive up to the U of I... short 10-minute drive... and go to the Illinois football games and sit in the end zone and watch Illinois play. It was awesome."

The orange and blue runs deep in his family. His father was a sheet metal worker in the physical plant who worked in almost every building on campus and retired from the University. His mother worked in the administrative offices for a period of time. His brother, David, went to the University of Illinois and earned his bachelor's, master's, and was working on his PhD when he was accepted into the med school at Illinois and received his medical degree. His sister, Virginia, received her undergraduate and law degrees from Illinois and currently is one of the deans of the law school. Vermillion himself earned his accounting degree and his CPA while attending school.

"High demand"

When Vermillion arrived on campus he quickly rushed the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He credits that experience as life changing.

 "I came from a very small town and so when I went to the U of I, the bulk of our fraternity were members from Chicago" Vermillion said. "To be exposed to people who had different experiences and different beliefs and values than mine was a really interesting process. It helped me grow up fast. Quite frankly, had it not been for the fraternity, I probably would not have passed. Grades were vitally important because we competed on grades for recruits. What made a big difference to me was I had a structure in place. We had pledge trainers. We had our pledge dads. They were all focused on trying to ensure that you got great grades. So, they taught you how to study. That was something I really hadn't learned, prior."

At school, Vermillion had friends and fraternity brothers who were business majors in accounting classes. From there he was exposed to several world class leaders in the accounting industry and he shifted his major from health education to accounting.

"It was nice to be in a program that was in high demand. As well from a school that was recognized as one of the top providers of that knowledge," said Vermillion.

In fact, he had several job offers while still in school and he accepted an offer by October of his senior year. Arthur Anderson, one of the biggest accounting firms in the world at the time, recruited more at Illinois than any other school and Ernst & Young treat Illinois as one of their top three schools to recruit new CPAs. He said the placement services at the U of I helped him tremendously and set him up for success.

Original architect rendering of the Joe and Mary Grace Vermillion Bowling Alley in the new  Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, set to open in August 2019. 

"A permanent memorial"

Vermillion's involvement with the Smith Center came about by way of former Fighting Illini assistant basketball coach Jay Price and former Fighting Illini defensive end and NFL standout Fred Wakefield.

It started with Vermillion and Price becoming friends.

"I met Jay because I was on one of the Illini Rivals boards and I had seen that Jay was trying to raise money for a food bank in town. I made a pretty good size contribution to the food bank to put Jay over his goal. He reached out personally and we struck up a conversation. Well, come to find out, Jay's parents live here in Scottsdale. So, on his next trip to Scottsdale, he and I met for coffee."

Tuscola native Wakefield was one of the Illini football players Vermillion paid special attention to during his career.

"I'd watched Fred play for years and remembered him, not only because he was a great football player, but because he came from Tuscola, which is obviously very close to Philo. So, I paid a lot of attention because there aren't many small town guys who play at major universities like that."

Wakefield was moving back to the Phoenix area and Price introduced him to Vermillion. The pair have been friends ever since.

Last year, Wakefield was named the Director of West Coast Development and Donor Relations for the University of Illinois I FUND and approached Vermillion about contributing to the Smith Center. He quickly set up meetings with Director of Athletics Josh Whitman and Assistant Athletic Director for Major Gifts Chris Tuttle.

"I had sat down with Josh and Chris to talk through the different investment opportunities," Vermillion said. "When they brought up the bowling alley, it really left an impression on me because some of my favorite childhood memories were with my parents when they were in the bowling league at Old Orchard Lanes in Savoy. I had just incredibly fond memories of watching my mom and dad bowl in the league, playing games, and having pizza and soda. It was just a great time. I looked forward to it and I loved watching them. So, it seemed to be the natural way to honor them in that facility and at the same time make a permanent mark, or a permanent memorial, for my parents there."

"Sustained success"

Even though he hasn't been back to campus for an athletic event in several years, Vermillion is always following Illini athletics and he likes the choices of the last few years.

"First of all, I think the choice of Josh Whitman as the athletic director was brilliant," he said. "I followed the search for the new AD and I was thrilled to death it was Josh."

The most important thing he likes about Illinois football and basketball is how Lovie Smith and Brad Underwood are building their programs.

"They're not going for the quick win," he said. "They're going for building a sustainable program. I think that's the only way you can build a program. I think it's really unfortunate that Illinois hasn't been more successful on the field, or on the court, in the last several years. But I think that we're going to see sustained success. If you do it the right way, you build it in a sustainable fashion. I think these are the guys that can do that."