The cover of the media kit illustrates the story of the Robert Morris University football program, with a giant-sized Joe Walton towering over the new $10 million stadium and sports complex on the Moon campus that had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday.

	Annie O'neill, Post-Gazette Marty Galosi assistant athletic director for marketing and sales at Robert Morris University, leads a tour of the newly constructed Joe Walton Stadium on the Robert Morris campus in Moon. Click photo for larger image.

The new home of the Colonials is aptly named Joe Walton Stadium in honor of the only head football coach in the 11-year history of the program.

Outgoing Robert Morris president Dr. Edward Nicholson explained the naming process for the stadium. A donor who wanted to remain anonymous offered to contribute $1.5 million to help finance the construction of the stadium under one condition: Name it after Joe Walton.

"I thought about it for about a second," Nicholson said, pausing for dramatic affect. "Then I said yes."

The Colonials will play their first game at Joe Walton Stadium against Butler University at 1 p.m. Sept. 17.

"I am humbled by this great honor. What can I say -- thank you. But thank you isn't enough. To leave this legacy for my children and grandchildren is an overwhelming feeling," said Walton, 70, who grew up in Beaver County and played at Beaver Falls High School and the University of Pittsburgh. "My family and I are honored beyond words. I can't express it any better."

Hank Fraley, the starting center for the Philadelphia Eagles and the most celebrated Robert Morris football alum, also was at a loss for words when he tried to explain what Walton has meant to him.

Between sobs, gulps for a breath and a cracking voice, Fraley said in a whisper, "He touched my life. I don't know where I'd be without him."

Fraley came to Robert Morris from Gaithersburg, Md. and played for the Colonials from 1996-99.

"He showed all of us how to be young sincere men on and off the field," Fraley said. "This is the way it should be."

Joe Walton Stadium, which has permanent seating for 3,000 on one side of the field, is covered with FieldTurf consisting of sand, rubber and a film polyethylene grass-like fabric with secondary backing of high polyurethane. It will be lined for football and soccer.

In addition to the field, the complex will include two locker rooms, three classrooms, athletic training room, office space for the football coaching staff, athletic administration and Olympic sports coaches, University box, press box, equipment room and weight room.

"It's on time and on budget," Nicholson said. "It's a magnificent alternative to what we had."

Robert Morris had played its home games at Moon High Stadium, about a mile away from campus.

Walton's 73-37-1 record includes NCAA Division I-AA non-scholarship national championships in 1999 and 2000, ECAC Bowl championships in 1996 and '97 and Northeast Conference championships in '96, '97, '98, '99 and 2000.

Walton and his staff started the program on a shoestring budget and didn't have the money to buy enough shoes and socks for the 159 players he brought in for the first camp.

When Nicholson told him he had a tight budget, Walton said, "That's OK. We'll make it work."

Said Nicholson, "Boy, has he made it work."

Before constructing the Robert Morris program, Walton was a head coach with the NFL New York Jets and had a 53-57-1 record from 1983-89. He was an assistant with the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Steelers.

"I've been there, done that," Walton said of his years in the NFL. "Seeing Hank Fraley here brings me back to why I'm still coaching football. He just missed being eligible to play his first year and was a Prop 48. His last three semesters he had over a 3.0 grade-point-average. That's what makes me keep coming back each year."

Athletic director Craig Coleman was asked if the Colonials have explored the possibility of leaving Division I-AA non-scholarship to play at a higher level.

"There hasn't been any talk or consideration given to changing," he said. "We're pretty happy with where we are in football. I don't think we have any future plans to do anything else. Look around, did you ever think we'd do something like this?"