Controversial Move to Demolish Historic Alumni Gym Met With Mixed Emotions

Exterior of Alumni Gym, built in 1923. Creative Commons

           Loyola is losing an extremely old friend that has been a fixture on this campus for over eighty years, however, a recent poll has put into question how strong students regard this friendship.  In what many regard as a controversial act, Alumni Gym is being torn down this May in order to build a new student union, which is being met with mixed emotions.

In January 2010, Loyola announced its “Reimagine Campaign” inside of a packed Alumni Gym.  It was revealed that in addition to a new athletic facility, stadium seating in Gentile, and the expansion of Halas, a new state-of-the-art student union will be built on the present site of Alumni by 2013. 

Many students are outraged that Loyola wants to demolish such an historic landmark.  Sophomore Meagan Zeama, 19, said, “While I understand their desire to renovate and make things new, I believe that destroying history takes away from the university more so than adds to it.  What is an establishment without its history?”  In recent years, Loyola has constantly been demolishing buildings on campus leaving it hardly recognizable from a decade ago.

Junior club volleyball team player, Tom Anger, 21, also voiced his anger, “I feel horrible!  It’s like losing a part of history. Loyola isn't the flashiest of schools, but its lakefront view and old history make it very special.”

Despite the opposition to its destruction, many find Alumni’s demise to be of positive note, particularly those involved in athletics.  Junior golf player Erik Hoops, 21, stated that his team is not at all upset with demolishing Alumni.  The facility is so obsolete and rundown it is no longer adequate for them.  He also adds that the gym is not a positive factor in recruiting new freshman since it is even worse than average high school gyms. “I feel that our athletic teams will only get better from the new centers. Alumni is great and historic, but that is not what will get newer recruits to make our teams better,” said Hoops.

The men’s basketball team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, 91, has been at Loyola since 1961.  Although she loves the building, she calls it dilapidated and out of date, no longer being a safe facility for training athletes.  She said that once the new Norville Center opens, it will have no more use, and that a new building would be a positive move for Loyola. 

Although its useful life as an athletic facility has come to an end, many still hoped that the building would remain on campus in a different form.  “Why don’t they just renovate it really nicely and redo it?  It is an historic part of Loyola,” said junior Chris Kaba, 21.  Another student, sophomore Ashley Lungren, 19, said “There is so much history there, I just feel like they’re letting it go to waste.  The building could easily be gutted out and turned into an academic building.”

The commemorative 1963 plaque on the side of Alumni Gym. 

Creative Commons.

Even though Alumni will be gone by the summer, Sister Jean will not let its legacy be forgotten.  She is campaigning for part of Alumni’s floor to be put on display in the Gentile Center.  In addition, she is pushing for a ceremony to remove the giant 1963 basketball on Alumni’s façade as an act of respect. 

Paul V. Hyland, the same architect who designed Loyola’s now demolished Jesuit Residence, designed Alumni Gym.  With funds raised through various alumni of the school, Alumni Gym was completed in 1924.  It has since been the home of all things athletic including basketball, volleyball, track, water polo, and even up until 1930, football.  Most notably it was here that the historic 1963 men’s basketball team went undefeated and eventually won the NCAA championship title.  It was the first time African American players started in an NCAA championship game.  The men’s basketball team finally ended their tenure in Alumni Gym in 1996, with a winning record of 484-136 before moving to the Gentile Center. 

 

Although many are upset and saddened by the eradication of one of Loyola’s most important landmarks, they are comforted that progress will put Loyola in a better light for the future.  According to Sister Jean, “It’s sad to see it go, but progress is always good.”

This video produced by the Loyola Athletic department documents a history of the Alumni Gym.