John Broggi and his wife, Barbara, want to make sure that future generations of women Scarlet Knights basketball players understand the impact that head coach C. Vivian Stringer has had on the sport in her long career at Rutgers. Stringer’s name “is important not only in women’s basketball, but also in the fight for gender equality,” says John RC’67. So in Stringer’s honor, the couple is making a gift that will name the head coach’s office in the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center at Rutgers University–New Brunswick after her. 

The Broggis have been devoted fans of Rutgers women’s basketball since the 1990s, traveling to away games, getting to know Stringer and her players, and endowing a women’s basketball scholarship. In the process, they have come to admire Stringer’s brand of leadership, not to mention her nearly 1,000 career victories.

A love of both sports and Rutgers runs deep in John and Barbara. They are season ticket holders for Rutgers football, men’s and women’s basketball, and wrestling. John is executive director of the National Sports Collectors Convention, the country’s largest annual trade show for sports memorabilia. Two of their three children earned degrees at Rutgers, including son Jeffrey Broggi SSW’01, who is campus dean of students at Rutgers–New Brunswick. 

“By attaching Stringer’s name to the head coach’s office,” John adds, “future recruits and players will know that a legendary figure in college athletics had a significant role in the history of Rutgers women’s basketball.” 

— Melissa Kvidahl Reilly