Creighton University

The Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Soccer Stadium and The Richard and Mary McCormick Endowment for the Fine and Performing Arts

When Mary Pat McCormick drove from Denver to Creighton with her young family friend, Hannah Pfong, this year, she once again recognized a simple truth: How the Jesuits could discover and bring out the best in others.

McCormick was on the board of Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver when she first learned of Hannah. “She came from Korea to the United States with her parents, and didn’t know a word of English. She was very shy. But the Jesuits at Arrupe saw something in her,” Mary Pat said, and it seemed, then, that Hannah started to see something in herself.

“She graduated from Arrupe as valedictorian of her class, speaking to an audience of more than 500 people,” McCormick recalls.

This year, Hannah’s story now unfolds at Creighton … in many ways as it did for Dick and Mary Pat years ago.

“I think when I was at Creighton, my faith was reinforced,” Mary Pat said this winter. “That value system; that challenging, thought-provoking confidence with which I grew up …

“I think it was Creighton years later that also stimulated me to continue to go back to school, to stretch myself.”

Although Creighton has changed since Mary Pat was a student – and Dick took graduate courses there – some things haven’t changed at all. “The Jesuits have always been very special, special people to us,” she confided. “And we both have a love for Creighton, for Omaha, for the Jesuits and the Catholic faith.”

That love of the McCormicks has inspired a world of generosity from them, taking its form in honoring Creighton University in so many, diverse ways. In fact, the McCormicks’ generosity to Creighton over the years has supported the University in all three critical areas of funding: capital gifts, endowment and operating funds.

And, although the years and a range of career assignments took them to New York, Denver and elsewhere, the inspiration the McCormicks found in Creighton always seemed to transcend the miles and draw them home.

Dick is an emeritus member of the Creighton University Board of Directors, and Mary Pat and Dick served as chaircouple for the Creighton 2000 Campaign in the 1990s.

For Willing to Lead, the McCormicks once again answered Creighton’s call, generously endowing the Fine and Performing Arts once more and supporting the Morrison Soccer Stadium.

To the McCormicks, the fine and performing arts “are an essential part of a person’s education.”

And of healing, Mary Pat has observed, as well. “I’ve seen what the fine arts can do to help abused children and people in residential treatment centers. The arts can be a very physical thing, where you lead with your hands and feet – and bring out a whole new way of living from yourself.”

The McCormicks also warmly and generously support sports as another essential of a Creighton education. “I love what Creighton does in sports – they make a person whole.”

Mary Pat said they both have so appreciated the Jesuits over the years for “their warmth and their realism.

“The Jesuits have that tension, I guess is the word, between their faith and their being with people, their faith and the world. They are people of faith in action.”