The family of late Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz has filed a petition to keep the University of Houston from renaming its Hofheinz Pavilion arena.
The petition is in response to the university recently offering the arena’s naming rights to an anonymous donor. According to the petition, Hofheinz’s charitable foundation agreed to pay the university $1.5 million for naming rights in 1969.
“One of our most important values, sometimes lost these days, is that a person’s word is that person’s bond,” John Raley, the family’s attorney, said in a statement. “Does the University’s honor have a price tag?”
UH’s Board of Regents approved a $60 million renovation for Hofheinz Pavilion last year. Raley said UH did not propose a name change during either of its previous renovations of the arena.
According to the petition, when UH was unable to finish building the athletic field house, Hofheinz provided funds to cover a third of the construction costs.
“There was only one condition on the donation: for once, something in Houston that he helped build would bear his name,” Raley said. “The University agreed, took his money, spent it, and now wants to break their agreement. That is illegal and, as any fair-minded Texan can see, simply wrong.”
