The Student Recreation Center at Kansas University will get a longer name today.

David Ambler, vice chancellor emeritus for student affairs, is scheduled to be honored at a ceremony this afternoon for his contributions to the creation of the recreation center. His name will be added to the building’s.

But to hear Ambler tell the story, credit belongs elsewhere.

As part of his duties, Ambler said, he worked with each student body president and helped them accomplish their goals for the university.

Ambler credited Kevin Yoder, a former student body president who is now a Kansas state representative, with shepherding the measure through a student vote.

Even though a previous vote had failed by a wide margin, Ambler said Yoder had ideas for how to get it passed. “He told me, ‘Boss, we’re going to get that rec center approved before I leave office,'” Ambler said.

Yoder proposed moving the center to the main campus from its previously designated location near 23rd and Iowa streets.

He also restructured the proposed fee so that students who were seniors and juniors at the time the measure passed would pay less than those who would have more time to use the facility.

“I looked at my role as not necessarily to agree or disagree” with the presidents, Ambler said. “I wanted to help them with what they wanted to do.”

And it’s in that role where Ambler excelled, not just with student body presidents, but with a number of different people all across the university, said Mary Chappell, KU director of recreation services.

She said he was a good listener, always taking time to do whatever he could to help other people succeed. “When you saw him walk into the room, you knew something good was going to happen,” Chappell said.