A Pennsylvania home remodeler’s gift helps Penn State remodel Beaver Stadium and its name

For millions of Penn State fans, Beaver Stadium isn’t just a place to watch a football game. It’s a home that seats 106,572.

So it’s appropriate that B.J. Werzyn, a 1999 graduate who’s in the home remodeling business, is helping make the stadium even bigger with a substantial financial gift.

“There was a lot of excitement around the team back then, when I was there, and there’s a lot of excitement now,” Werzyn said Thursday morning.

On Saturday, Werzyn, 48, and his family will be in the stadium before No. 2-ranked Penn State’s home opener against Nevada, and he’s going to be a little more excited than usual. For the first time, the school has rebranded the stadium’s name. The Nittany Lions will be playing on “West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium” thanks to a $50 million donation by Werzyn.

Werzyn studied engineering at Penn State and finished with a degree in kinesiology. He didn’t want to get into the family’s window and door company, but he did, briefly, in Florida. Then he set out on his own. He founded West Shore Home in 2006, and today, the Mechanicsburg-based home remodeling company employs 3,000 people nationwide and generates approximately $750 million in revenue annually.

Werzyn said he knew he had to tread respectfully with one of the nation’s most iconic and largest stadiums, a venue that’s had the name Beaver — in honor of former Pennsylvania Gov. James A. Beaver ― associated with it since 1893.

“It was important for them to keep the Beaver Stadium name,” he said. “When there was a chance to partner with the school again, to be a part of that iconic venue, it was a real no-brainer for me.”

Beaver served as president of the school’s board of trustees, but didn’t go there.

Penn State announced the naming rights deal in March, saying Werzyn’s gift would “ensure a future foundation for Penn State Football and for all of Penn State’s 31 athletics programs.”

“As an alumnus of our great University and a business owner in Central Pennsylvania, B.J. understands the critical role that Beaver Stadium plays in our community,” Patrick Kraft, Penn State’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, said at the time.

Werzyn said he has a long, philanthropic relationship with the school, but also an academic one. West Shore works with the school’s computer science and information technology science departments, along with a new artificial intelligence program, and also offers internships. Approximately 1,200 of his employees are from Pennsylvania.

“I have a real good relationship with Coach Franklin, too,” he said.

West Shore Home, which has an office in Norristown, was also one of the earlier supporters of Name, Image, Likeness, which debuted in 2021. The company’s done individual deals with players, including Penn State running back Nick Singleton.

Growing up in industrial Johnstown, Werzyn said he learned work values and lessons in entrepreneurship from his family’s window and door manufacturing business.

“It’s middle America,” he said. “It was a great place to grow up.”

He didn’t want to go into the family business after graduating from Penn State, but his parents asked him to help out at a new division of the company in Florida. That sparked his own entrepreneurial spirit.

“I got to see all aspects of construction, from wholesale manufacturing to distribution,” he said. “We worked a lot with architects and builders. In 2005, I decided I wanted to move back to Pennsylvania, to be closer to family, and I just bootstrapped it from day one.”

Philip Brenckle, the company’s CFO, said it’s surreal to think a 1995 PSU freshman is getting his company’s name on Beaver Stadium.

“The story of West Shore Home proves the American entrepreneurial dream is still very much alive and well,” Brenckle said. “B.J. started this company with no backing, support, or safety net. He truly built it brick by brick and one day at a time. No shortcuts, no handouts, and no playbook.”

The naming deal is the latest part of Penn State’s ongoing $700 million renovation and expansion of Beaver Stadium.

Modifications to the press box, concessions, and the upper stands on one side of the stadium are expected to be completed before the 2027 Nittany Lions football season.

Werzyn said he’s excited to see part of his donation go toward the stadium’s planned expansion, and he’s a little competitive about it. He’d like to surpass the University of Michigan’s “Big House,” the nation’s largest stadium with a seating capacity of 107,601.

“I think the goal is to make it a year-round venue,” he said.

Werzyn, who’s also on the board of directors for Utz Brands, lives in Mechanicsburg with his wife, P.J., and their daughter, Anna.