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Monument rises with new name
The McKay building was renamed after computer entrepreneur John Sykes gave the University of Tampa $10-million.
By MICHAEL CANNING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 5, 2002
What is in a name? Apparently not much, when a big fire and big money intervene.
The Municipal Auditorium was built in 1926 behind Plant Hall on the University of Tampa campus. A few years after prominent Tampan D.B. McKay died in 1960, the building was renamed McKay Auditorium.
A 1993 fire left it gutted and unusable. In 1997 local computer entrepreneur John Sykes donated $10-million to the university. Most of the money was used to refurbish and expand the damaged neoclassical structure into the John H. Sykes College of Business, which opened in 2000.
To avoid confusing D.B. McKay with the 19th century cattle and shipping magnate James (for whom McKay Bay is named) or the late Buccaneers head coach John, just call him Chief White Heron.
Donald Brenham McKay was born here in 1868. At age 14, he began more than a half-century of newspapering, starting as a printer. He eventually became editor and publisher of the Tampa Times.
In 1910, he was elected to the first of four terms as mayor. He also served three terms as jury commissioner for Hillsborough County. Local history was a passion, and he was named county historian by the Hillsborough County Historical Commission in 1949. His "Pioneer Florida" articles were a long-running feature in the Tampa Tribune. His research into the Seminole Indians led the tribe to make him an honorary chief and dub him Chief White Heron.
Among his many civic posts, McKay was also a founder and trustee of the University of Tampa.
Source: Tampa Bay History Center
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