The Kent State Board of Trustees yesterday formally approved naming the Golf Training and Learning Facility after two leaders of its creation.

The facility will be named after Kent State director of golf Herb Page and Dr. Emilio Ferrara. The facility, dedicated Sept. 15, will officially be named the Ferrara & Page Golf Training and Learning Facility.

Located at the Kent State Golf Course, the facility is the vision Page has had since he first arrived as coach 30 years ago. He said he was speechless about the honor.

“It’s overwhelming. I’m just so humbled,” he said. “I came here in the 1970s as a student-athlete and then a coach. To build this facility is just a dream come true. It’s just one of those lifetime dreams that sometimes I wonder if this is actually happening to me.”

Ferrara, a Kent State grad and dentist in Kent, gave the lead donation that helped start the fundraising effort.

“Dr. Ferrara has been a mentor to me and he means so much to me in my personal life. I’m just so proud to have both our names on that building,” Page said. “In my opinion, it should have been named just after Dr. Ferrara. It is just an honor, and he means so much to me.”

The facility includes a 350-yard practice range with tees, bunkers and an area to chip and putt. It also includes three heated hitting stalls to hit balls outside when Ohio winter weather hits.

Inside is a four-camera video room, a 3,000 square-foot inside putting green and a “Wall of Champions” honoring past Kent State golfers.

The men’s team has won 16 Mid-American Conference championships and the women’s team has won the last nine MAC Championships.

While talking about the honor, Page thought of one special person.

“I just think about my father,” Page said. “He passed away a few years ago, and he would be so proud of me and this facility.”

Contact sports reporter Jeff Russ at [email protected].