A Trine University trustee and alumnus decided that it was time for the Thunder football team to come home. Wayne Shive, president and chairman of Lifeline Corp, Fort Wayne, Ind., provided the lead gift toward the construction of a home football field. An official groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the football field was held on November 3, 1998, and the Thunder's first home game was in the fall of 1999. Additional construction was completed when Shive Field was consolidated with Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium in 2010.