It was originally and rather unimaginatively going to be referred to as simply the Men's Gymnasium, but then fate most cruelly intervened. The Think Tank would join the Center for Exploratory Students and the Office of Admissions in Bear Down Office Space.Īnyone who has ever done anything even remotely athletic in that venerable masterpiece of a building will have a visceral reaction when stepping into what is now a brightly lit, carpeted, air-conditioned thing.īear Down Gym was built in 1926. It was decided that the Office of the Dean of Students would move to the Nugent Building, displacing the Think Tank, which provides student tutoring services. When the Arizona Board of Regents approved $13.5 million for a much-needed renovation of Old Main, it was understood that workers in what is the oldest building on campus would have to find new quarters for a while. Yes, listed on the National Register of Historic Places is (now) Bear Down Office Space. People don't play at Bear Down anymore because the University of Arizona, in one of its most widely scorned bureaucratic decisions of all time (and that's really saying something) has turned the legendary athletic venue into office space. McKale's where we work this is where we play."
His suggestion was met with stunned silence and a unanimous display of "Are you out of your mind?" stares.įinally, one of his players stepped forward and said, "C'mon Coach, this is Bear Down. He gathered everyone around him and then, because of the extreme weather, offered to open the McKale Center basketball arena for open play. And then there were the UA students who could play a decent game of basketball, knowing that if they were fortunate enough to get in a game on the main (south) court, they would spend their time playing defense, setting screens and perhaps gathering in the occasional loose ball.Įven though you could see your breath inside the gym, it was-as it was on all days in dusty, poorly lit Bear Down-heaven for all concerned.Īround 10 that morning, UA men's coach Fred "The Fox" Snowden showed up. At least as high in the hierarchy of respect were the street ballers, led by the legendary Hoegie Simmons, who was once featured in Sports Illustrated for having back-to-back 50-point games in college (and this was back in the day when there were no three-pointers and it was illegal to dunk). There was the usual assortment of players that day, among them members of the Wildcat basketball squad, including Larry Demic, who got drafted (as it turned out, way too high) in the first round by the New York Knicks and Russell Brown, who would shatter all of the UA assist records.
Norman doors anylogic full#
On that Saturday of a Cinco de Mayo weekend, Tucsonans awakened to the sight of snow down low on the Catalinas and temperatures that would hover in the high 40s all day.ĭespite Mother Nature's little prank and the fact that final exams were in full swing on the UA campus, Saturday was an open gym day at Bear Down and there was sure to be a shivering crowd gathered on the north-side steps, waiting for the doors to open at 9 a.m. At a time of year when the average high temperature is 85 degrees, the high that day was 64 and even that was measured just seconds after midnight, before the storm rolled in. May 6, 1978, was one of those freak weather days that happen in Denver or Omaha, but almost never in Tucson.
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