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The Men's Gymnasium


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Loved the video, TDH !

More info about the men's gym on 7th Ave, that is still standing.  Building has been the source of many championships in two sports, as well part of a couple of controversies.  In addition to the tiles, a movement back in 2009 was underway to rename Wildermuth (the men's gym, or HPER building)  for Bill Garrett, the Big Ten's first African-American basketball player, who played there. The Garrett family wished not to have the building renamed after Bill. However a memorial sign was placed outside of the building a few years later.

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In 1962, Indiana University spent millions for additions to the building.  One of the improvements was the addition of Royer Pool. One year after IU's first of 20 consecutive Big Ten Swimming and Diving championships.  And Royer was home to IU's swim team, when they went on a streak of 6 national championships from 1968 to 1973,

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Great article.   I had summer jobs in Bloomington and played a ton of games on those upstairs courts when the lower courts were occupied with camps or whatever.  I had no idea that’s where the legends played back in the day.   Why was the main floor arranged upstairs?  It seems strange and frankly not safe in case of an emergency (e.g., a fire).

Is the HPER still the main place to play pick up ball?  I’ve been gone longer than I’d want to admit.  

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19 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

Great article.   I had summer jobs in Bloomington and played a ton of games on those upstairs courts when the lower courts were occupied with camps or whatever.  I had no idea that’s where the legends played back in the day.   Why was the main floor arranged upstairs?  It seems strange and frankly not safe in case of an emergency (e.g., a fire).

Is the HPER still the main place to play pick up ball?  I’ve been gone longer than I’d want to admit.  

Yes, the HPER is still set up the way it has been for years with dozens of courts for pick up/intramural games.  I wondered the same thing about the gym being upstairs.  I can think of a few other places like that from that era.  It is cheaper to build up than out, so since they wanted the lower level space for other stuff and needed the high ceiling for the gym, maybe that was the compromise.

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