Friday, February 3, 2012

Steve Appleton Dies in Plane Crash

Micron CEO Steve Appleton, a former tennis star at Boise State, was killed at 9 a.m. this morning when his light plane crashed near the Boise airport.  Appleton was piloting a single-engine experimental Lancair that caught fire.  He was 51 years old. 

Appleton came to Boise State in 1978 on a tennis scholarship.  As a senior, Steve was captain of the team and won the Big Sky Conference doubles championship.  He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1982. 

Micron has donated generously to Boise State over the years, providing the funding for the Micron Center of Technology on campus.  Appleton himself donated the funds and helped design the state-of-the-art Appleton Tennis Center, one of the finest of its kind in the nation.

In 2001, Appleton received Boise State's prestigious Silver Medallion for his service to the university and in May of 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate.  Appleton served as co-chair of the university's most recent comprehensive fundraising campaign for scholarships, programs and buildings known as Destination Distinction.  He was also a Boise State University Foundation board member from 1995-2002 and a lifetime Chaffee Guild member.

Appleton was instrumental in the development of the College of Engineering at Boise State, which offered its first classes in 1996.  In 1999, he established the Micron Foundation, which has led to several generous donations to Boise State programs and initiatives, including the Micron Business and Economics Building at the corner of University and Capitol, which is scheduled to open later this year, and doctoral programs in Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Bronco Nation will greatly miss Steve and remember all he did for Boise State.