NORFOLK, Va. – Dick Thurmond learned a simple lesson early in his career in real estate – it's often the sign in the front yard that ends up selling a home.
"The most important factor in real estate is to get that sign up," Thurmond said. "I always put up the biggest sign that would be allowed within zoning standards.
"You couldn't put a lot of information on the sign. Just the realtor's name and a phone number. But it was essential to selling a home."
Take Thurmond's word for it, because he knows a lot about real estate. Four years after graduating from Old Dominion in 1976, he joined William E. Wood as an agent. A little more than decade later, he was president and owner and later on, he sold the company to Howard Hanna.
On Saturday, just prior to ODU's home football opener against Louisiana, a yard sign of sorts for ODU will go online in Thurmond's name.
As part of a $1.25 million donation he made to the ODU football program, a courtyard just to the south of S.B. Ballard Stadium, adjacent to the 49th Street Parking Garage, was named the Thurmond Family Plaza.
A year after the plaza was renamed, ODU has installed a 12 foot by six foot video board that will be visible to those in nearby tailgate lots and on heavily-trafficked 49th Street.
When he was touring the courtyard one day with Jena Virga, executive director of the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, the school's athletic fundraising organization, he stared for a minute or so at the brick wall on the back of the stadium.
"I looked at all of that brick and said to myself, that's kind of wasted space," he said. "I wanted to get the biggest TV we possibly can and put it on the brick."
ODU officials hoped to get the video board up by the end of last season, but with supply chain issues and parts shortages, it only went up this summer.
"I look at it as a billboard for the University," Thurmond said. "They can use it for whatever function they want to.
"I hope it will be used to promote events other than football, such as basketball games, welcome back events or whatever they else is going on here.
"I think it should be used 24/7. It's a very busy corner."
Thurmond is one of ODU's most generous donors, both for academics and athletics.
Because of his donation to the football program, head football coach Ricky Rahne is now known as Old Dominion's Thurmond Family Head Coach.
"He's been extremely supportive," Rahne said. "When he comes to practice, he acts like I'm doing him a huge favor. It's like, you can come to any practice that you want. He's been awesome.
"He just wants to support our football program and athletics and the entire University."
Previously, Thurmond donated $6 million to create the Thurmond School of Professional Sales and Negotiations in ODU's Strome of Business College. It is the world's first school that teaches professional sales and negotiations.
Thurmond came to ODU when it was still a small commuter school. He lived in Rogers Hall, one of only two residential halls on the campus at the time. He was shy and at times withdrawn when he came ODU.
"I was an introvert and ODU helped me become an extrovert," he said.
Taylor Heinicke with Dick Thurmond and Jena Virga last season at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
He credits ODU with giving him the skills to succeed in business. It's also the place where he met his wife, although their romance took a hiatus for couple of decades.
He met Pat Jennings, also an ODU student, when he was a sophomore and they dated for a year and a half. When Pat let him know that she wanted to get married right out of college, Thurmond let her know that wasn't part of his life plan.
He wanted to succeed in business before getting married and then broke up.
She later married Thurmond's college roommate. "I was in their wedding," Thurmond said.
She received two degrees from Duke and became an expert on infectious diseases. She headed the surgical physician assistant program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before retiring and moving back to Hampton Roads.
Dick Thurmond and wife Pat Jennings with Big Blue prior to last season's opener against Virginia Tech.
She lectures at Eastern Virginia Medical School, which will soon merge with ODU.
They were both single by the time she moved back, and they rekindled their romance.
"We waited a long time for each other," he said. "We have a great life now. We travel a lot. I've really been blessed and I'm so happy."
On Saturday, he and Pat will head to the plaza named for their family and enjoy watching college football while they tailgate.
"My favorite sport has always been college football," he said. "I watch ESPN College Gameday every Saturday morning. I'm really into it.
"I'm so glad that Old Dominion has football now. It's a whole different campus than when I attended school here.
"I'm so proud of what they did over the years. It's become such a magnificent University. We have a beautiful stadium and a great football coach.
"Everything we have now is beyond my wildest dreams."
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: Thurmond Family Video Board Another Tangible Sign of Dick Thurmond's Generosity
