When David Eichmann began attending Boise Junior College in the 1960s, the college gave few hints of the university it would become.
“I used to walk to school in the mornings from my home on the Bench through Ann Morrison Park,” Eichmann said. “The blackbirds would attack me as I went through the trees and the old football stadium was just a wooden mud pit in bad weather.”
Today, Albertsons Stadium is a concrete and steel edifice capped by the Stueckle Sky Center and famous for its blue turf. Distinctive modern structures dot campus. Boise State claims 33,000 students and nearly 170,000 living alumni. The Eichmanns have been there through it all.
David Eichmann worked as Boise State’s mail services manager for more than 14 years, expanding its offices and optimizing mail sorting and delivery. He retired to join his wife and fellow alum, Shelly Smith Eichmann, in the real estate business. They’ve remained active as Bronco volunteers: Both have served on the Bronco Athletic Association board of directors. David Eichmann has served on the Bronco State Alumni Association board and was a member of the Bronco Advocacy Network.
They’ve also been stalwart donors. Together, they made their first gift in 1982. Since then, they’ve given every year for more than three decades, often to scholarships, the Bronco Athletic Association and the administrative fund for the Stueckle Sky Center — gifts that led to their induction into the Lyle Smith Society, an elite giving society supporting Bronco athletics.
“It’s a great investment and we wanted to support a wonderful school,” Shelley Eichmann said. “We made the commitment and we stayed with it.”