Modesto Junior College invites the campus and community to a Dedication Ceremony for the Dave Ashleigh Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 22 at 2 p.m., poolside on MJC’s East Campus. The ceremony will recognize Ashleigh for his contributions as an outstanding MJC faculty member and coach for swimming and water polo by naming the pool complex in his honor. The dedication is free and open to the public.

Reservations are requested for the Fundraiser Barbecue that will follow the ceremony, which can be made for $35 through the MJC Foundation Office, (209) 575-6619. Proceeds will benefit the Dave Ashleigh Aquatics Scholarship Endowment. A “Block Party” reception following the BBQ is also being planned at the home of Dave Farrand on Yale Avenue.

Ashleigh was a distinguished faculty member and an outstanding coach, and is considered to have been one of the greatest water polo players in the history of the game. He was a member of the United States Olympic water polo team in both 1964 and 1968 and captained the winning squad in the 1967 Pan American Games, earning the first gold medal in water polo for the U.S. In 1983 he was inducted into the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Water Polo Coaches Hall of Fame; the University of California, Los Angeles Hall of Fame; the MJC Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Sportsmen of Stanislaus Club Hall of Fame.

A group of MJC alumni who were MJC athletes under Ashleigh’s coaching brought forward the recommendation to rename the MJC pools to the Dave Ashleigh Aquatic Center to honor Ashleigh’s legacy. The alumni group has also established an endowment that will fund the cost of signage and provide on-going support of the college’s aquatic programs.

Questions can be directed to the MJC Foundation, 575-6619 or the Physical, Recreation and Health Education Division at 575-6269.