A friend once told Arlene Dowd, “Always pick up the biggest brush you have and just start painting.”

That’s the approach Dowd, administrative coordinator for the Fox School of Business’ Human Resource Management Department, took with a recent fundraising project — a bird’s-eye-view painting of a packed Liacouras Center.

Temple University Athletics provided reprints of the painting to donors to its 110% Campaign who gave $1,000 or more and to continuing donors who increased their commitment by 10 percent.

Dowd began working for Temple in 1990 and has been involved with university athletics since 1998 when, in her spare time, she painted a portrait of former men’s basketball coach John Chaney.

The portrait brought Chaney to tears, and the two became instant friends. Dowd, a lifelong sports fan, started watching men’s basketball practices and supporting the team in any way she could. She has a similar connection to current men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy.

Scott Koskoski, associate athletics director for development, knew Dowd was interested in raising money for athletics and approached her last year about painting the image of the Liacouras Center. She used pencil and watercolor to complete the work during the course of a month.

Koskoski said athletics wanted something supporters would find meaningful and priceless, and Dowd’s painting appears to fit the bill. Thanks in part to the incentive item, athletics gained more than 620 new donors this year.

“Arlene supports the university in both word and deed, usually right from the front row of the Liacouras Center,” said Koskoski. “She is a unique talent and adds to the vibrancy of campus.”

It is the first time Dowd has painted an arena or stadium, but not the first time she has painted a sports scene. She says her love of sports and passion for painting go hand-in-hand.

“If it wasn’t for one, there wouldn’t be the other,” she said. “They’re joined.”

Dowd, a lifelong Phillies fan, met baseball great Richie Ashburn when she was 15 through a connection her father had with the then-owner of the Phillies, Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr.

Dowd and Ashburn stayed in touch throughout his life, and when Ashburn was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Dowd sketched a large charcoal portrait of him. Through Ashburn, Dowd met late Phillies announcer Harry Kalas, whom she also sketched. That charcoal still can be seen on the screens at Citizens Bank Park.

Since meeting Ashburn, Dowd has painted countless players. She works with the Reading Phillies to paint portraits of players as they come up through training camps in Clearwater, Fla. To date, she has painted Jamie Moyer, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee and others, and every year she donates at least one image to be auctioned by the ALS Association.

Dowd’s instant connections with Ashburn and Chaney are similar to her immediate attraction to Temple.

Recalling the first time she stepped on Temple’s campus for one of her daughter’s orientations, she said, “I sat by the Bell Tower and I thought, ‘This is where I want to work.’”

Twenty-one years later, Dowd has served the School of Medicine, Psychology Department, Criminal Justice Department and now the Fox School of Business. Her paintings of sports scenes, flowers and cityscapes are hanging in faculty and administration offices throughout campus.

Dowd hopes to paint more images like the one of the Liacouras Center to help athletics — and the university in general — raise more funds.

“I love Temple. They’ve been good to me,” she said. “It’s my way of giving.”

—Christine Fisher