The Bells Must Ring - A Rutgers Basketball History Blog: Rutgers 85 St.Bonaventure 80

At 3:22 AM on January 7, 1930, a call came into the New Brunswick Fire Department that Ballantine Gym was on fire. Although the fire fighters responded promptly, the building was too far gone to be saved, taking with it almost all of the college's athletic records dating back to the 19th century. Ballantine Gym may have been historic, but some thought it inadequate since in the very same issue, the Daily Home News editorialized that the school, fire or no fire, needed a new state of the art facility. The timing, in the midst of the great depression, was hardly propitious, but the administration got to work and designed the below facility to be built on College Field, the site of the first intercollegiate football game.

Daily Home News - March 29, 1931

Construction of the new gym, estimated to cost $700,000, was underway in 1931 when the hard economics times forced a delay. Some $291,000 had been donated by alumni and friends, but that amount along with funds from other sources still fell some $250,000 short. Determined to finish the project, the administration borrowed the difference and work resumed in September with a goal of finishing the facility in time for a December 12 game with Princeton.

Daily Home News - August 16, 1931

Unfortunately, it was not to be, less than 10 days before the game, it was announced that construction would not be finished in time and the opener was put off until January 6th against Syracuse.

Daily Home News - December 3, 1931

As the date of the Syracuse game approached, the Home News proclaimed the new facility to be a state of the art "Temple of Athletics." According to the paper, one "striking innovation" was the large vertical sliding door between the main gym and the swimming pool. As detailed below, the game came off as scheduled, a tough one point loss in the closing minutes. Two major modifications had been made from the rules since the 1920 game with Princeton. Players could re-enter a game once and the designated foul shooter was eliminated, requiring each player to shoot his own foul shots. Rutgers would win its first game in the new Gym on February 3rd, a 32-26 victory over Fordham.

Daily Home News - January 7, 1932

While some 1800 fans reportedly attended the first game against Syracuse, an even larger crowd came to a concert by Paul Robeson, Rutgers Class of 1919 on January 14, total attendance was estimated at over 3,000. The highlight of Robeson's performance was his closing song, a rendition of "Old Man River," that so moved the crowd, Robeson had to do seven encores before he could close the concert. A movie version of Robeson performing this timeless classic can be found at https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iba-1&hsimp=yhs-1&hspart=iba&p=paul+robeson+ol+man+river#id=1&vid=f28548b4785d50684d5a5cf490bca020&action=view

Daily Home News - January 10, 1932

The last Rutgers game played at the College Avenue Gym was a 87-81 victory over Villanova on February 24, 1977. What has to have been the most memorable game in the 35 year history of the facility was the final game of the historic 1975-76 season.