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Foundation says Denver YMCA getting cold feet over name change that will include 'Stapleton' name

The new president of the Denver YMCA said reviewing the plan to change the name to Benjamin F. Stapleton YMCA is just due diligence. Jenna Stapleton, on the other hand, says it's due to national pressure.

What's in a name? For venues - it's usually a lot of money.

The Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche play in the Pepsi Center because Pepsi paid millions for the naming rights. Fitzsimmons in Aurora became the Anschutz Medical Campus after tens of millions of dollars in donations from the Anschutz Foundation.

And with a $1 million donation, the downtown Denver YMCA was set to be renamed the "Benjamin F. Stapleton, Jr. Downtown YMCA."

No, not THAT Stapleton. His son.

"There are five Ben Stapletons, so it is confusing. My grandfather-in-law had given so much to the YMCA, he was on the board for a number of years," said Jenna Stapleton, the wife of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton and executive director of the Harmes C. Fishback Foundation Trust.

"The foundation is actually run by the Stapleton family," continued Stapleton. "The only stipulation was that we give money to nonprofits throughout Colorado."

One of those donations was to the YMCA of Metro Denver. In February 2016, the foundation pledged $1 million - $200,000 each June 30 through 2020 - to renovate the downtown YMCA locker room, upgrade the gymnasium, redesign the reception area, add new program space and improve the wellness activity area.

"Part of the proposal was if you give $1 million, you get naming rights to the building," Stapleton said. "Once it was revealed that the YMCA would be renamed the 'Benjamin F. Stapleton YMCA', we did have some fallout. At the same time, my husband had announced that he was running for governor, and I think it wasn't a coincidence that the Stapleton name was controversial once again."

Stapleton, Jr. is the son of Denver's former five-term mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton, Sr.

Stapleton, Sr., who is credited with the construction of Red Rocks Amphitheater and the start of what would become Interstate 25, was also listed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and was quoted in a 1924 Denver Post article saying he "will work with the Klan and for the Klan."

"I completely, 100 percent denounce the KKK and anything it stands for," said Jenna Stapleton.

The renaming of the downtown YMCA isn't about that Stapleton, it's about his son. Stapleton, Jr. served on the Colorado Water Conservation Board and on the board for the YMCA.

"My cousin-in-law, who's on the board of the YMCA, right before dinner brought up to me that the YMCA new CEO, who I have not met yet, approached him. She said that they were getting national pressure from the YMCA about the Stapleton name," said Jenna Stapleton. "It's heartbreaking to me that our family is constantly dragged through the mud."

The YMCA of Metro Denver has a new CEO. Sue Glass started three months ago. In a phone interview, she told 9NEWS that her first order of business was to review all contract and donor agreements as part of a larger evaluation of the entire YMCA.

She denied that there is national pressure to not have the Stapleton name attached to the building.

"Not a direct result. No, it is not. It is no secret that we've had some concerns from the public and from the community. That's a side note. That's not something that is guiding this decision. This decision is really about us doing due diligence as an organization," said Glass.

She said that no decision has been made.

Even though Ben Stapleton, Jr. shares the same name with his father, Jenna Stapleton did not believe there needs to be a distinction made between the two.

"Because the building is being named after Benjamin Stapleton, Jr., I don't think that there needs to be a plaque discussing his father. I think that people should take into account what their parents have done and make sure if it's something that they don't agree with and something extremely negative, like the KKK, then they should make sure they live their life differently, which is exactly what Ben Stapleton, Jr. did," said Jenna Stapleton. "While I understand part of the name is controversial because of my great-grandfather-in-law, I don't think that we should live every day having to feel terrible about our name."

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