Aaron Donald’s time at Pitt predates that of Pat Narduzzi, Heather Lyke and even Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher.

The former Penn Hills star and current Los Angeles Ram was gone by the time any of those three Pitt leaders arrived in Oakland. But now, all four will be linked for a long time after Wednesday’s unveiling of the Aaron Donald Football Performance Center at the Panthers’ facilities in the South Side.

The renaming of the ground floor of the facility, which includes Pitt’s locker rooms, weight room and training room, comes after Donald made a seven-figure commitment this offseason, the largest donation a former Pitt football letterman has ever made.

“We talk about ‘Pitt for life’ and you kind of embody that,” Gallagher said as he addressed Donald in front of a crowd before the curtain was lifted on the new signage. “You’re still a Pittsburgh guy and you’ve been here. And I hate to say this on the day we’re thanking you for your gift, but the real gift you give us every day is the gift of yourself.

“Every student-athlete that works here sees you as an example. They seem somebody who’s humble and family-oriented and hard-working and stands for all the right things. That’s a powerful gift. I think this just augments that and makes it special.”

Gallagher was referring to Donald’s near-omnipresence during the offseason. Every year since he left Pitt following the 2013 season, Donald has returned to the South Side to train with Dewayne Brown, who runs 2/10 Speed and Agility, as well as lift weights inside Pitt’s facility. That included this year, when Donald showed up in the South Side not long after the Rams’ appearance in the Super Bowl.

The connection between Donald and Pitt has continued despite more than a few changes for the Panthers since he graduated from Penn Hills in 2010. Dave Wannstedt was Pitt’s coach then, and Donald played for Wannstedt for one season. He played for Todd Graham in 2011 and then Paul Chryst in 2012 and 2013.

But the transition didn’t break his connection to the Panthers.

“I love Pittsburgh,” Donald said. “This is where I was born and raised. Great University. They allow me to train here and use everything just like if I was still here playing with them. So this is where I’m comfortable. This is where it all started. This is what keeps me grounded, keeps me going, keeps me pushing. This is home.”

Lyke credits Narduzzi and strength coach Dave Andrews for working to maintain the relationship between the Pitt football program and Donald, who is one of the top overall players in the NFL.

“This doesn’t really happen without relationships, and I do have to give a huge kudos to Coach Andrews and Coach Narduzzi. When you’ve been coached by four different coaches here, what is the connection to Pitt? And how do you bring people back and former alumni back? That’s one of the greatest challenges; we’ve had a lot of transition in this football leadership…

“If it was not for them and the relationship that they’ve had an opportunity to build with Aaron, I don’t think this would have happened.”

Last August, Donald ended an offseason holdout when the Rams agreed to give him the biggest contract in NFL history for a defensive player, reportedly paying him $87 million guaranteed in a six-year, $135 million deal.

But despite the money, despite the nice car and the Gucci shorts, Donald hasn’t strayed too far from his roots as a quiet kid from Penn Hills. And he seemed more surprised than anyone to see a sign with his name on it hanging over the door to Pitt’s training facility.

“I never would have thought in a million years that my name would be on anything like this, so to see that, I really can’t put it in words.”

Donald’s story as an under-recruited three-star prospect has been more than enough times, but the part of the tale that doesn’t get mentioned as often is that he most likely still would have ended up at Pitt no matter what offers came in. Donald was a Pitt fan from the jump - “Pitt for life,” as Gallagher said - and in that sense, giving back to the University and the football program was the next step in a lifelong connection.

“This is home,” he said. “This is the school that I watched on TV as a kid and I dreamed about playing for. So for it to be here in my hometown at a University that I grew up cheering for and wanting to play for, coming full circle how it did, you can’t write that story any better than that, honestly.”