FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Sunday, December 12, 2004)

WESLEYAN PLAYS FINAL BASKETBALL GAME IN ALUMNI ATHLETIC BUILDING
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10 AS WOMEN DEFEAT SPRINGFIELD, 74-53
(Men to Inaugurate Play in New Gymnasium Monday, January 3, 2005 vs. Albertus Magnus)

 

       Constructed in 1931 to attend to the athletic needs of the then 600 male students at Wesleyan University, the Alumni Athletic Building, affectionate known as the "Cage," hosted its final athletic contest Friday, December 10, 2004 when the Wesleyan women's basketball team played Springfield College.  The Cardinals improved to 7-0 on the season with the 74-53 victory.
      Funded by alumni donations and built at the urgings of then Wesleyan president James McConaughy, the Alumni Athletic Building has been home to Wesleyan men's basketball for 74 seasons and for women's basketball most of its 33 varsity campaigns.  The first game played in the structure featured Wesleyan's men against the Coast Guard Academy.  Coast Guard won the game December 12, 1931 by a 23-21 score.
      Numerous Wesleyan teams have used the Cage for practice and contests.  Almost all of the home games played by Wesleyan's women's volleyball team since it attained varsity status in 1984 have been played in Alumni with the first, a 3-0 victory over Albertus Magnus College, played on October 11, 1984.
      Wesleyan's wrestling team held most of its home meets in the Cage before the completion of the Freeman Athletic Center in 1990 and also hosted the New England College Conference Wrestling Association Championships there in 1985.  The Cage was often used for inclement weather practice by football, soccer, baseball and lacrosse as it initially had a dirt floor with a wooden floor added for the winter season to accommodate basketball.  Later a synthetic surface was placed in the building with the outside edges banked to support a 1/10th mile track while the inside was covered with tartan for a permanent basketball court.  The baskets, however, were removed each season.  More recently a wooden floor has been used for basketball while a SportCourt is installed for women's volleyball.
      Wesleyan is completing construction of a $13 million addition to the Freeman Athletic Center which will contain a gymnasium to hold all basketball and volleyball contests.  The first game scheduled for the new facility will be a men's basketball game against Albertus Magnus College Monday, January 3, 2005.  The men currently stand 7-3 on the year and a riding a six-game win streak into the new gym.
     This spring, demolition of the Cage will commence as the site will be the new home for Wesleyan's campus center, the Suzanne Usdan University Center.

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