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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:31 a.m., Saturday, March 22, 2008

Baseball: Torii Hunter to give $500K to Arkansas

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Torii Hunter has offered the university in his Arkansas hometown $500,000 to help build a new ballpark.

The new $9 million University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff facility will be known as the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex, said the school's athletic director Skip Perkins. He said Hunter finalized the details of the donation Friday morning, the largest ever to the university's athletics program.

"We are very, very grateful," Perkins said. "We're ready to rock-and-roll now. That was a huge component to our fundraising efforts."

Hunter, 32, never played for his hometown university. The 1993 graduate of Pine Bluff High School was a first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Twins just after graduating.

He signed the Angels' richest contract ever during the offseason, a five-year deal worth $90 million.

A two-time All Star with seven Gold Glove awards, Hunter hit .287 with 28 homers and 107 RBIs for Minnesota last year.