Sweat & Floor Burns

By Marissa Harshman

As thick snowflakes float to the ground, hundreds of bundled-up Western students escape the winter cold, trudge up the stairs and file into the already packed bleachers for a night of fast-paced basketball. Once the stands are full of rosy-cheeked fans, the doors close and the fans wait for the action to start. Vikings guard Mike Kirk enters the court suited up for the game and sees the spectators on the small metal bleachers.

The dedicated fans who couldn't get though the doors in time head back outside and scale the beams supporting the building. Kirk spots the faces of his friends and loyal fans peering through the windows high above the court. This is where they will have to watch the hottest rivalry game of the season: Western versus Pacific Lutheran University. The Vikings' home court is known today as Gym D. The year is 1960.

The bright lights and glossy floors of Carver Gym are familiar images for hundreds of Western students who attend Viking basketball and volleyball games. Kirk remembers playing games in the early days of Carver Gym. The home game atmosphere Kirk, players and coaches experienced in Carver is unmatched by other facilities. The gym has endured nearly five decades of use and may be receiving its first major renovation since its construction in the 1930s.

Before the gymnasium opened in December 1961, and was dedicated to Sam Carver in 1962, Western men's basketball team played in the much smaller Gym D, located above the women's locker room. Because of the limited space in the gym, the bleachers placed fans right on the sidelines.

"The atmosphere was so intense, so loud because the space was confined and the seats were so close to the court," Kirk says.

Kirk's teammate and former Viking center John Riseland transferred to Western from Seattle University one year before the team relocated to Carver Gym. Riseland says having so many people in such a small space made the games intense; the voices of screaming fans drowned out the coaches' orders from the sidelines.

"It was extremely noisy, to the point where you couldn't hear yourself think," Riseland says with a laugh. "It made conversign with teammates almost impossible. Growing up with noise levels like that is probably partly why I have hearing aids now."

The original Physical Education Building, completed in 1936, consisted of the team's home court (Gym D), a small lap pool, a few offices and classrooms, and shower rooms. At the time it was built, the facility was used for classes and not for playing basketball, Western's Sports Information Director Paul Madison says. Before the Physical Education Building was built, teams practiced in Old Main and played games at local high schools because the makeshift court wasn't regulation size, he says.

In 1961, contractors completed a 54,233-square-foot addition to the gym. The new floor space added three gyms, seven offices, two classrooms, a lounge and varsity locker rooms. Around campus and the community, the most talked-about feature of the gym was the main court, known as Haggen Court since 2004.

Adapting to the fluorescent lights and open space of the larger facility wasn't difficult for the team because of the number of loyal fans who showed up to cheer on the Vikings, says Kirk, a 66-year-old Western Hall of Famer.

"(Haggen Court) seemed large at the time," Kirk says. "The new gym held more people, not as many as it does today, but enough people wanted to be at the games that we filled the stands. Once the upper bleachers were put in, they were packed, too."

Like several other buildings located in Red Square, the gym was built on a peat bog. Construction teams had to drive massive metal pilings into the ground to provide stability for the building's foundation. Money spent to purchase the pilings meant other additions to the facility had to wait. Carver's mustard yellow painted exterior was originally supposed to be covered with bricks to match the existing Physical Education Building. Contractors and Western administrators put the plan on hold and eventually decided to leave the building as is, Madison says.

In its first two decades, the new gym provided a stage for popular performers. Western students attended shows from Simon & Garfunkel, the Tubes, the Smothers Brothers and Ike & Tina Turner.

The gym also served as a venue for NBA pre-season Seattle SuperSonics and Harlem Globetrotters games, a match between the U.S. and Canadian national volleyball teams and a speech by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who gave Western an environmental award, Madison says.

But the primary events taking place in the gym are, and always have been, Viking basketball games. Western's teams put up a fight when playing on Haggen Court, and garner impressive home-court records.

The wear and tear Carver gym endured over four decades of use is becoming apparent to Western Men's Basketball Coach Brad Jackson.

"When the facility is set up for a basketball game, the aesthetics and the court itself are pleasing to walk into," Jackson says. "But it's an antiquated facility for this day in age. It hasn't kept pace with the type of institution we are, which is a first-rate, mid-sized academic institute."

The location and design of the building make sporting events in Carver Gym difficult to manage, Madison says. With the gym located in the middle of campus, parking is a nuisance for spectators because the C lots are the closest options, he says. Madison adds that security is also difficult to maintain at the gym because dozens of doors provide access to the building.

The Physical Education Building was the fourth structure built on Western's campus. The age of the building and the need for various improvements have prompted the administration to look into options for remodeling the facility.

"Carver Gym is on the list for a major renovation," Western's Facility Management Assurance Coordinator Greg Hough says. "There has been talk internally about remodeling Carver, but the funding at the state level is not there yet."

Renovations to Carver Gym and Miller Hall, along with other smaller projects around campus, are included in Western's 2007-2017 Capital Plan that the administration submitted to Gov. Christine Gregoire. The plan describes the projects the university is requesting state funding to complete, Hough says. The scope of what the project would include has not been discussed in detail, and will not be discussed further, until funding is acquired, he says. During its current session, the legislature will determine Western's state funding for the next two years, Hough says.

Western's 2007-2017 Capital Plan projects that the university will need nearly $52 million to acquire consultant services, draft a design, complete construction and purchase equipment for Carver Gym. The plan spreads the entire process, from planning to construction completion, over six years, from October 2007 to October 2013.

Madison says obtaining state funding can be difficult for renovations not related to academics. Physical education and athletics used to be closely related, but in recent years they are not, he says. In the past, most Western athletes studied health and physical education and later went on to become coaches and P.E. teachers, Madison says. Now athletes at Western study a wide range of subjects that usually have nothing to do with sports, he says.

Despite structural flaws and the building's age, both Jackson and Western's volleyball coach Diane Flick agree Carver Gym is still a great place to play games. Flick says in addition to the home-court advantage teams enjoy, Carver Gym provides an intimacy lost in larger arenas.

"The way the facility is set up, the fans are right on top of the action," Flick says. "We've played at bigger facilities, but the fans are so far away that the game loses some of its flair. Carver brings back that small-town feeling."

The atmosphere of Carver Gym today, and in the 1960s when it fueled Kirk and Riseland's games, keeps them coming back to the gym, more than 40 years later. Both former Vikings regularly attend games and have noticed changes in the feeling of the gym over the years.

"I think the number of people and the loudness is just not as much as most of the games I played in," Kirk says. "The intensity of games like Central this year was what we had all the time. It's just not as intense anymore."

Riseland, who has operated the game clock for men's home basketball games for the last 25 years, says the atmosphere of Carver today couldn't get much better.

"Over the years I've seen a lot of changes," Riseland says. "The atmosphere this year is great. At the Central game (Jan. 20) there was a great crowd. A few years back there was a lot of cursing coming out of the crowd, but now there is a positive atmosphere and the crowd is supportive of Western."

As one of Western's oldest buildings, Carver Gym has undergone numerous changes, and the coming years may hold more. But behind the creaking bleachers and chipped paint of the building will always lie the stories of thousands of athletes, coaches and students from the past four decades. In that time, the building has become beaten and battered. Even if the gym is refurbished, the spirit and memories of those people will stay within the towering brick walls of Sam Carver Gymnasium.